





^ 




>• .^' 



«$. 









; / \ 









*, 
















'•^ 


0* 


\ <^Ss, 




? 


^ 


°* 


* < ~z^yy 


* © N 


<<* 








V 


» * 


* ° J* 


cv 


vrV 


i 






2* ^ 



V *b *??>,* A 



? .•IZL'* > 



%J 







**% 








1 /\ 



/ 

ISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE 
SKETCHES 

— OF — iff 

SUFFOLK COUNTY, 

AND ITS 

TOWNS, VILLAGES, HAMLETS, SCENERY, INSTITU- 
TIONS AND IMPORTANT ENTERPRISES; 

"WITH A 

Historical Outline of Long Island. 

FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT BY EUROPEANS. 

By RICHARD M. BAYLES. 



- • ■ £5 



POBT JEFFERSON, L. L ^ 

PUBLISHED BY THE AXJTHOE. 
1874. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 

RICHARD M. BAYLES, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



W. A. OVERTON, Jb., & CO., 

Printers and Publishers, 
Pom jesterson, L. I., N. Y. 






PEEFACE. 



When the author commenced work on this book, about 
two years since, he had become impressed with the idea that 
the time had arrived when some attempt should be made to 
bring forward the record of history from the time when 
Thompson and Prime wrote, to. the present. During the 
thirty years that had elapsed since the writing of the last 
History of Long Island, a new generation of people had en- 
tered upon the field of life, and the greatly increased num- 
bers of our population seemed to demand a more available 
history of the past. At the same time, those thirty years 
had developed many and important changes in the history of 
the Island or County. During that time we had made more 
history than for a century before, and the times seemed to 
demand the production of a work which should retain the 
principal historical items of the former period, to which 
should be added a continuation down to the present day. 
Then it appeared that a more complete effort in the matter 
of description than history generally received would add to 
the interest of the work. Lastly it appeared that to do jus- 
tice to the whole field of Long Island would be an undertak- 
ing too great to be accomplished within a reasonable length 
of time, and would require a volume of such size and ex- 
pense as to be beyond the convenient reach of the masses, 
and would thus prove a pecuniary failure. Acting upon 
these impressions the compiler set about the work, with 
but a very imperfect idea of the amount of labor, perplexity 
and time that would be required to carry it to a successful 
end. He has the satisfaction of knowing, however, that the 
work, though it has required a larger outlay than ho anticipa- 



VI PREFACE. 

ted, is more complete and more thorough than he intended at 
the outset to make it. At the same time it is not perfect — 
not as nearly so as he would have been pleased to make it. 
Nevertheless, a reasonable amount of pains have been taken 
to avoid mistakes, and to insure as far as possible correctness. 
But in this point the compiler meets with numerous difficul- 
ties. He experiences perplexity at times for want of sufficient 
information, and at other times on account of too much in- 
formation. In consulting different authorities on the same 
points there often appears such discrepancies that the in- 
quirer turns away in disgust, and despairs of finding the 
truth. In these sketches very many important items have 
been omitted on this account — because the various authori- 
ties from whom they must be gathered, could not be recon- 
ciled. The author does not claim this work to be free from 
the power of criticism, by any means, but would ask in all 
seriousness that those who feel disposed to censure or criti- 
cise will first make sure that they know more of the items 
they question than the author does, before setting him down 
in error. 

To relieve the monotony of digging, and searching, and 
solving contradictory problems, which this work has cost, the 
author remembers with a grateful heart the many favors he 
has received at the hands of his friends — generous deeds and 
kind words of encouragement, which have fallen at times 
like sun-beams across his path, and inspired him to persevere 
in the work he had set about. 

Taking this means to return the most sincere thanks and 
heartfelt gratitude, to the scores of Mends who have ren- 
dered him assistance in the enterprise of preparing these 
Sketches of Suffolk County he lays down the pen, and hands 
the book over to the public. 

Port Jefferson, L. I., Dec. 20, 1873, 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Aquebogue, 300 

Atlanticville, 318 

Aniagansett, 414 

Amityville, 172 

Brookliaven, school districts, 120 — 121 

Babylon, town of, 170 

Breslau, 173 

Babylon, village, 177 

Bellport Station, 261 

Blue Point, 267 

Bellport, 272 

Brookliaven, 274 

Brentwood, 205 

Bohemia, 207 

Bay Shore, 210 

Bayport, 221 

Brookliaven Town, 223 

Baiting Hollow, 284 

Beaver Dam, 313 

Bridgehampton, 333 

Clay Beds, 77 

Climate of L. I., 82 

Cordwood business, 83 

County Clerks, succession of, 126 

County Treasurers, succession of, 127 

Colonial council, members from Suffolk, 1"J/ 

Cold Spring Village. - ' - > 



Vlll INDEX. 

Central Islip, 200 

Crane Neck, 235 

Centre Moriches, 278 

Calverton, 287 

Canoe Place, 321 

Coram, 2G3 

Cutchogue, 36.9 

Colonial Period, 31 

Centreport, 158 

Crab Meadow, 1(55 

Cuba, 166 

Clay Pitts, 166 

Comae, 169, 191 

District school statistics, 119 

Dix Hills 169 

Deer Park, 171 

Dutch, settlement by, 16 

Discovery of L. I. , '. 13 

Description of L. I. , 74 

Easthampton school districts, 121 

Eaton's Neck, 138 

Elwood, 166 

English, settlement by, 23 

East Moriches, 279 

Eastport, 279 

East Marion, 385 

Easthampton Town, 399 

Easthampton, 409 

Early customs, 71 

First settler on L. I., 15 

Fort Neck, battle of, , 68 

Fish and oil, 80' 

Forest trees of L. I., 81, 

Fruits, wild of L. I., .' 83 

Fire in the woods, 84 

Fivsli Pon J. 165, 136 



r View 1GG 

Island, 221 

Flanders, 359 

Fmnklinville, 367 

Fisher's Island, 390 

Greenlawn, 165 

Genola,.. 166 

Good Ground, 319 

Gr^enport, 378 

Gardiner's Island, 406 

General description of L. I., 74 

Holbrook, 207 

Hauppauge, 194 

Hay Ground, 336 

Holtsville, 267 

Hills and bluffs, 76 

Huntington school districts, 119 

Huntington town, 133 

Huntington village, 144 

Half Hollows, 168, 172 

Irnlians of L. L, 61 

Islip school districts, 120 

Islip Town, 196 

Islip village, 211 

Judges, succession of, 126 

Janesport, 301 

Kf tchaboneck, , 314 

Lloyd's Neck, 144 

Litftle Neck, 160 

Lopg Swamp, 168 

Li-Mand, 206 

Lower Aquebogue, 300 

La'fie Grove. 265 

Me;lville, 168 

Modern Times, 205 

Meichanicsville, , 211 



X INDEX. 

Mills' Pond, 195 

Mastic, 275 

Moriches, 277 

Middle Eoad, 299 

Mount Sinai, 251 

Miller's Place, .V//.V. ............. .... . ....'. ....'. 252 

Manorville, n 254 

Medford Station, .' .261 

Middle Island, .261 

Mattituck, .367 

Montauk, +415 

Northport, f 160 

Nicoll's Patents, .|197 

North Islip, ^206 

Nissequague, .192 

North ville, ./////////.V.V.^Z.T////".!i!!!!.!r.".. j.285 

North Sea, ' ...j.332 

Nassakeag, j.241 

New Tillage, j.265 

Noyack, j.359 

New Suffolk, k .371 

Northwest, J 409 

Napeague, t,415 

Oil factories, L 80 

Officers of Suffolk Co., 126-^-131 

Oakdale L219 

Onock, h.314 



Old Field, 

Orient, , 

Peat beds, 

Population of the towns, 

Ponquogue, 

Penataquit, 

Poosepatuck, 

Pautuck, 

Port eTeffeison, 



p.241 
i.386 
; . 76 
.132 
.320 
.211 
277 
.314 
,242 



Pr.tchogue, 268 

P iconic, 37 2 

Plum Island, 388 

Qiiogue, ,...315 

Q logue, ,., 316 

B* verhead school districts, 121 

R verhead Town, 282 

Eoanoke, , 285 

E verhead, 287 

Red Creek, 321 

Bocky Point, 253 

Bilgeville, 202 

Bobbins' Island, 371 

Shipwrecks on L. I. coast, 8-1 

Southold school districts, 122 

Southampton school districts, 113 

Shelter Island school district, 123 

School Commissioners, 121 

Schools of the county, statistics, 125 

Smithtown school districts, 119 

Sheriffs of Suffolk Co., 131 

Sweet Hollow, 1(8 

Smithtown, Town of, 183 

Sunk Meadow, 188 

Southampton, , . . 3^7 

Scuttle Hole, 336 

Sag{ Harbor, 3 7 

Selclen, ' 264 

Southold Town, 3C0 

SouAhold, 372 

Shelter Island Town, 392 

Springs P. O., Ill 

South Haven 275 

Settlement of L. I. by English, 23 

» " " Dutch, 16 

iftblk Station, 206 



Xll INDEX. 

Sayville, 219 

Stony Brook, 234 

Setauket, 236 

St. Johnland, 186 

Smithtown, Head of the River, 191 

Smithtown Branch, 193 

St. James, 194 

Success P. O., 28(5 

Southampton Town , 30& 

Speonk, 311 

Springville, 3^0 

Squiretown, 32 1 

Shinnecock, 324 

Treasurers of the Co., 127 

Thompson Station, ' 206 

Tanners Neck, 313 

Union Place, 313 

Vernon Valley, 164 

West Hills, 167 

Winne-comack, 169 

West Islip, 208 

West Moriches, :278 

Wading River, 254, 9.83 

Westhampton, <$12 

Watermill, 333 

Wickapogue, > B33 

Woodville, !253 

Wainscott, t09 

Youngsport, '2.17 

Yaphank, ^56 



CHAPTER I. 



THE DISCOVERY OF LONG ISLAND BY THE DUTCH — THE SETTLEMENT 

OF THE WESTERN TOWNS THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT AND THE 

GENERAL DISCONTENT — FROM 1G09 TO 1G61. 



In the early part of September, 1609, Henry Hudson, an 
Englishman, employed by the Dutch East India Company, in 
the vain search for a Northwest passage to India, discovered 
the West end of Long Island, at the time he explored New 
York Bay and the river which bears his name. He had been 
fitted out by the said Company in the early part of the same 
year, with a crew of twenty picked men, with a vessel called 
the '" Half Moon." This expedition sailed from Amsterdam 
on the 25th of March. 

While exploring the neighborhood of New York Bay, a 
party of men went ashore from the "Half Moon,''' and landed 
on that strand now known as Cone}- Island, being the south- 
western extremity of Long Island. Here, we are told, they 
found plum trees and grape vines growing and bearing fruit 
hi the midst of the untutored wilderness. 

Thus it appears, Coney Island was the spot where the first 
white man ever set foot upon Long Island. 

The members of this expedition also reported, that they 
found great numbers of birds of different kinds on the shores, 
and multitudes of fishes in the waters. 



14 SETTLEMENT BY THE DUTCH. 

A day or two later, as a party of Hudson's men were out in 
a small boat fishing, they were attacked by Indians and one 
of their number, John Coleman by name, was killed by an 
arrow from the latter. Hudson ordered him taken ashore 
and buried. The spot of his interment was called Coleman's 
Point, to commemorate the event. This place is supposed by 
some to have been on Coney Island, but by others it is located 
on the opposite or New Jersey shore. 

The first discovery of Long Island, having thus been made 
under the auspices of the Dutch, they laid claim to its owner- 
ship, as they did also of the island of Manhattan, or Manhat- 
toes, as it was then called by the Indians. 

In 1611, Dutch merchants came over and established a trad- 
ing post with the Indians, ux3on the latter island. 

In 1614 they erected a fort on Manhattan Island, which 
they named New Amsterdam, and refused to acknowledge the 
superior claims of the English to the neighboring territory. 
The same year Adrian Block sailed down the Sound, on a voy- 
age to Cape Cod, and was the first to discover that Long Island 
was entirely surrounded by water. On this voyage he also 
discovered and gave name to Block Island. 

Four years later Thomas Dermer sailed up the Sound from 
New England, on his way to Virginia, and in describing his 
passage through Hell Gate he says: — " We found a most dan- 
gerous cataract amongst small rocky islands, occasioned by 
two unequal tides, the one ebbing and flowing two hours 
before the other." 

The Dutch East India Company, under whose employ Hud- 
son had discovered this part of the American Continent, was 



SETTLEMENT BY THE DUTCH. 10 

in 1621 merged into the Great West India Company, and to 
this organization the "States General" granted the exclusive 
monopoly of trading with the natives in the province of 
New Netherlands, for a term of twenty-four years. 

In the year 1G23, or 4, this Company appointed Peter Min- 
uit to the office of director general, or governor of NeW 
Netherlands under them. Previous to that time a few houses 
had been erected, and were occupied by the Dutch temporary 
settlers, on Manhattan Island. 

It is evident that the matter of establishing permaaeat 
settlements here by the Dutch, received at first but little 
attention. The main objects which they sought, were the 
pecuniary benefits arising from a trade with the Indians. 
The principal articles exchanged were guns, ammunition and 
rum, for which they received furs. In this way the early 
Dutch speculators enriched themselves, by placing in the 
hands of the Indians the instruments and destructive ele- 
ments, which a few years later were turned with such fatal 
and distressing consequences upon the innocent white settlers. 

The first settlements under the Dutch on the west end 
of Long Island were m?.de by individuals, in a hap-hazard 
manner, just as circumstances might suggest, without any 
associated attempts at government. 

The first white settler upon Long Island of which history 
gives any account, Avas one George Jansen de Rapalje, a 
Frenchman, who established himself during the administra- 
tion of Peter Minuit, in the vicinity of Wallabout Bay, in 
the spring of the year 1C25. His daughter Sarah Rapalje, 
born June 9th, of the same year, was the first, child of Euro- 
pean parentage born upon the Island. 



16 SETTLEMENT BY THE DUTCH. 

Permanent settlements were commenced on both ends of 
the Island nearly at the same time : on the west end by the 
Dutch, and on the east end by the English. Thus it will be 
seen Long Island was virtually claimed by three different 
powers, — the Indians, the Dutch and the English; though no 
very fierce measures were taken to establish the supreme 
rights of either in opposition to the others. The English 
allowed the Dutch to hold authority over the western part, 
and the Dutch allowed the English to hold authority over the 
eastern part. Both powers admitted the superior claims of 
the Indians to the lands, and neither attempted to force them 
away, but in all cases purchased their lands of them, at prices 
which seem to have been perfectly satisfactory. On the west 
end large tracts were purchase d by the governor, and by him 
sold to individuals or companies of settlers. 

The first regular settlement of the Dutch towns was made 
about the year 1 636 or soon after. 

Slaves were introduced by the Dutch very soon after their 
first arrival. 

The towns settled by the Datch are as follows, with the 
date of their settlement as near as can be learned: — Brooklyn, 
at first called Breuck-landt, meaning broken land, settled in 
1630; Flatlands, originally called New Amesfort, after a place 
in Holland from which it is probable the first settlers came, 
settled in 1636; Flushing,* named by the Dutch Ylissengen, 
after a place in Holland, first settled in 1645; Flatbush, first 
named Midwont or Mid-wood, probably signifying middle of 
the woods, settled in 1651; New Utrecht in 1657; and Bush- 
wick, meaning Woodtown, in 1660. 



SETTLEMENT BY THE DUTCH. 17 

The following towns though in the Dutch territory and 
under the Dutch jurisdiction, were settled by the English. 
Hempstead in 1643, Gravesend in 1045, Oysterbay in 1653, 
Jamaica in 1655, and Newtown in 1656. The territory of 
Oysterbay, though at first claimed by the Dutch, remained 
for many years in a sort of neutral position, and finally came 
under the dominion of Connecticut. The other four towns 
were under the control of the government of New Amsterdam, 
until the conquest of 1664. The original name of Newtown 
was Middleburgh; and that of Jamaica, Rustdorpe. 

The Dutch allowed English immigrants to settle within 
their borders, on taking the oath of allegiance to the States 
General and the West India Company. 

The English settlers on Dutch territory purchased their 
lands of the Indians, having first obtained license from the 
governor to do so. These lands were generally purchased by 
companies in large tracts, which were afterwards divided up 
among the individual proprietors. 

The inhabitants of the English towns in the Dutch limits, 
were allowed to elect their own local officers and magistrates, 
which elections however were subject to the approbation or 
rejection of the governor. The common method seems to 
have been for the people to elect double the number of candi- 
dates required, and from these the governor made his choice 
of which should act. They had their town-meetings, and 
managed their own affairs, as near after the model of the 
towns on the east end of the Island as their circumstances 
would allow. 

Unlike the English towns of Suffolk County, where the 



18 SETTLEMENT B¥ THE DUTCH. 

voice of tlio people was the sovereign power, the Dutch towns 
of the west end were subjected to the whimsical domination 
of a bigoted tyrant, who held the prerogatives of granting 
lands to settlers — of making laws by which they were to be 
governed — appointing the officers to enforce and execute those 
laws— hearing and deciding such cases of disagreement as he 
chose to call from the hands of subordinate magistrates — 
ordering churches to be built — installing ministers, and dictat- 
ing where and when they should preach — and in fact exercising 
unlimited authority over the people in all their characters — 
corporate and individual — civil, military, social and ecclesiasti- 
cal. He employed the assistance of a council, but that body 
of professed associates, were simply his tools, among which as 
elsewhere in the province of New Netherlands, his own word 
was the highest law. 

The governor appointed magistrates and constables in each 
of the Dutch towns, and delegated to them j^ower to act., 
subject to his discretion and £>leasure. In some cases the 
people were allowed the privilege of suggesting measures, 
which if approved by the governor were carried into effect. 

■The Dutch government at New Amsterdam was thus but 
little less than an absolute monarchy. This burden of tyranny 
in addition to the perils of the wilderness, to which they were 
exposed, and the otherwise unfavorable circumstances with 
which they were surrounded, in a wild, new country, far 
removed from the advantages of civilization, rendered the 
situation of the settlers under the Dutch jurisdiction, pecu- 
liarly unpleasant and discouraging. Discontent arose, and 
the pioneers sighed for the blessings of a more secure and 
liberal government. 



SETTLEMENT BY THE DUTCH. 19 

September 19th, 1650, four commissioners, two from the 
Dutch government, and two from the United Colonies of New 
England, met at Hartford, to settle if possible the disputes 
which had risen between the Dutch and English, respecting 
the boundary between the two powers on Long Island. They 
decided upon a line which should commence at the "western- 
most part of Oysterbay " on the north side, and extend south- 
ward to the sea, as a proper division of the territory. This 
line however was not wholly regarded, for the Dutch governor 
still persisted in his claim of authority over the town of 
Oysterbay, which by that treaty belonged to the English . 

In the Dutch settlements, the management of church affairs, 
like all other matters, was more or less subject to the pleasure 
of the governor. In 1654 he ordered the erection of a house 
for public worship at Flatbusli. This was the first one erected 
under the Dutch rule on Long Island. Its dimensions were 
thjrty-five by sixty feet, and twelve or fourteen feet high. In 
1655 the governor directed the people of neighboring towns 
to assist in getting out timber for the church. It was proba- 
bly completed some four or five years later, at a total cost of 
4,637 guilders. A guilder was equal to forty cents of our 
money. The necessary funds for the erection of this church 
were raised by contributions from fthe people of Flatbusli, 
and neighboring towns who were united with them in church 
relations. Assistance in the enterprise was also received from 
the settlements of Fort Orange (Albany), and New Amster- 
dam. Governor Stuyyesant himself contributed 400 guilders. 

The Dutch settlers, as w'ousld appear most natural, brought 
with them the religious inclinations of the Fatherland. The 
.churches they established were under the care of the £&88SJS 



20 SETTLEMENT BY WIE DUTCH. 

of Amsterdam, and so continued for more than a century, 
before an independent union on tlie same model was organized 
in America. 

The popular discontent which seemed all the time to be on 
the increase, was at last ventilated by a meeting of nineteen 
delegates, representing the people of New York, Brooklyn, 
.Flushing, Newtown, Hempstead, Flatlands, Flatbush, and 
Gravcsend, who met at New Amsterdam, December 11th, 1653. 
They then drew up a remonstrance against the arbitrary meas- 
ures and action of the government, in which they, set forth 
their grievances, and prayed for a relief from the oppression 
under which they groaned. This remonstrance was respect- 
fully submitted to the governor and council, but they made 
no reply to it, beyond disputing the right of some of the towns 
to be represented in the delegation, and protesting against 
the meeting. Two days later the delegates presented a further 
remonstrance, in which they intimated an intention of appeal- 
ing to the highest powers of the Netherlands, if they could 
not obtain redress for their troubles here. At this suggestion 
Gov. Stuyvesant became so indignant, that he peremptorily 
ordered the delegates to go home and never to assemble again 
on such an errand. 

Thus the situation was made worse if possible than before. 
No attempt appears to have been made to carry out the hinted 
intention of appealing to the Dutch authorities at home. 

To fill the cup of discouragements and hardships under 
which the settlers labored, their dominion about this time was 
infested by " land pirates " and thieves, against whose incur- 
sions the government offered but a very feeble protection. 
These parties were supposed to be wandering exiles, who had 



SETTLEMENT BY THE DUTCH. 21 

been banished from the colonies of New England for some 
misdemeanor or other. 

In some of the towns, the people took the matter into their 
own hands, and organized military companies to protect their 
villages against the approach of these marauding vagabonds. 

George Baxter and James Hubbard were, the two delegates 
from Gravesend to the meeting of 1653, which presented the 
offensive remonstrances, and it was to the former that Gov. 
Stuyvesant ascribed the authorship of those documents. 
These two gentlemen were leading spirits, and charter mem- 
bers of the town of Gravesend. Baxter had been employed 
as private secretary to Gov. Kieft, and had also been appoint- 
ed by Gov. Stuyvesant as a commissioner to the treaty of 1G50 
which defined the bounds between the English and Dutch 
jurisdiction on Long Island. In 1G54 these men having been 
elected by the people for the office of magistrate, were set 
aside by the governor. It appears they had served before in 
the same capacity, and this action of the governor in ejecting 
from office those whom the people had tried and found faith- 
ful, gave rise to an ominous storm of indignation, which the 
wooden-legged veteran found some difficulty in quieting. He 
succeeded however by enlisting the influence of Lady Moody, 
a woman of prominent standing and popular connections with 
the settlement. Her influence among the people restored con- 
ciliation, and passive acceptance of the governor's decision. 

Finding there was no encouragement to hope for better 
things under the Dutch rule, the English settlers determined 
if possible, to obtain a connection with the colony of Con- 
necticut. In February, 16G3, the people of the English towns 
under the Dutch (whether in a body or represented by dele- 



22 SETTLEMENT BY THE DUTCH. 

gates does not appear), held a meeting at Hempstead, and 
there decided and agreed to dissolve their compulsory connec- 
tion with the Dutch government, and unite with the newly 
organized colony of Connecticut. A new charter had been 
granted to that colony the year previous, which charter 
included the former colony of New Haven, and also, according 
to the construction placed upon its language by the General 
Court of Connecticut — Avhether that construction was the one 
intended or not — embraced the whole of Long Island. To 
this interpretation the eastern towns had gladly assented, and 
availed themselves of its benefits, and their English neighbors 
within the Dutch limits sought to do the same. It is evident 
that they, having long been burdened with the yoke of Dutch 
tyranny, saw in the new charter of Connecticut a glimmer of 
encouragement to strike for deliverance. The earnest wishes 
of the people as expressed by this meeting having been set 
before the General Assembly of Connecticut, March 10th, 
1G63, two commissioners, George Wyllys and Mathew Allyn, 
were aj^pointed to go over and organize the government 
among the English towns on the west end of Long Island. 

Whether these commissioners fulfilled their mission or not 
does not appear. The histories are silent on the subject of 
their further action in the matter. It is therefore probable, 
that either from the neglect of the commissioners, or the 
opposition of the Dutch governor, the project of annexation 
was abandoned. 

Thus, no effort of the people to rid themselves of the yoke 
•of bondage was successful, and the loose-jointed and unsatis- 
factory state of affairs seems to have continued till the 
•conquest in 1664. 



CHAPTER II. 



SETTLEMENT OF THE ENC4LISH TOWNS OF SUFFOLK COUNTY UP TO 
THE CONQUEST OF 1664. 



In the year 1497 the English, through their representative, 
Sebastian Cabot, claimed to have discovered North America, 
from thirty to fifty-eight degrees north latitude. Voyages 
were made to different parts of the coast, by English navigat- 
ors, before the year 1606. 

In 1620 King James I. of England, granted a patent to the 
Plymouth Company for all the land lying between forty and 
forty-eight degrees north latitude, extending through from 
"sea to sea," or in other words from the Atlantic to the Paci- 
fic, though it is evident that in those times the people of the 
Old World had but a very imperfect idea of the distance 
through the "howling wilderness," or across the continent. 
These bounds of course included Long Island. The territory 
thus granted was called New England, and the privilege of 
"planting, ruling, and governing" it was given to the Ply 
mouth Company. 

After granting the Plymouth patent in 1621, the Massachu- 
setts patent in 1628, and the Connecticut patent in 1631, the 
Plymouth council on the 22d of April, 1635, granted a patent 
for the whole of Long Island to William Alexander, Earl of 
Stirling. This was done in compliance with the request or 
order of King Charles I. 



24 SETTLEMENT BY THE ENGLISH. 

In June of the same year the company surrendered its 
patent to the crown. 

April 26, 1636, the Earl of Stirling appointed James Farrett 
as his agent, to dispose of real estate on Long Island, and 
authorized him to act by a power of attorney to that effect. 

In consideration of his services Farrett was allowed to take 
up a certain amount of the land for his own benefit, wherever 
upon the island he might choose. In exercising this right he 
made choice of Shelter Island and Robbins Island. 

Earl Stirling died in 1640, and was succeeded by his son, 
who also died a few months afterwards. His heir surrendered 
the grant of Long Island soon after, and it was embodied in 
the King's patent to the Duke of York in 1664. 

During several years that passed between the time Stirling's 
patent was abandoned and the reception of the new charter of 
Connecticut in 1662, the eastern part of Long Island was not 
claimed by any power, consequently the settlers held the 
controlling power in their own hands, and disposed their gov- 
ernmental affairs according to their own wishes. During this 
interim they purchased lands of the Indians, without being- 
obliged to obtain patents for the same from any other source. 
Purchases were however regulated somewhat by the towns, 
and afterward subject to confirmation by the governors who 
presided over the Colony under the Duke. 

The first English individual settlement within the bounds of 
Suffolk County, was made by Lyon Gardiner on Gardiner's 
Island in 1639. Ho was probably the first English settler 
within the territory now occupied by New York State. 

The following towns were settled by the English, and held 
undisputed control over their own affairs, until the organiza- 



SETTLEMENT BY THE ENGLISH. 25 

tion of the Duke's government in 1664. Southampton settled 
in 1640; Southold settled the same year; Easthampton in 
1648; Shelter Island in 1G52; Huntington in 1653; Brook- 
haven in 1655; and Smithtown in 1663. Oysterbay settled in 
1653, as is also stated in another chapter, was on territory 
claimed by the Dutch, so the freedom of its local government 
was in a measure restricted by the partial control which the 
latter were able to exercise over it. 

The settlers were mostly Englishmen, who had emigrated, 
and after remaining a short time in the colonies of New Eng- 
land, came across to the Island in companies of eight to fifteen 
families each, and planted themselves here in independent 
colonies. Their numbers were speedily increased by other 
companies of immigrants joining them. 

They were very zealous in. their devotion to religious mat- 
ters, earnest in cherishing and extending the genial influence 
of Christianity, and profound in their reverence for the Bible 
and its teachings. 

Like the patriarch Noah, whose first act on emerging from 
the ark was to set up an altar and offer sacrifice to God, who 
had preserved him from the flood which had swallowed up a 
Avicked world, so one of the first acts of the early settlers of 
Long Island, after landing upon the soil of a new world, was 
to set up their altars and offer up the sacrifice of thankful 
hearts to Him who had preserved them and brought them 
safely hither. Before the echos of the Indian war-whoop had 
died away, or the camp-fires and hunting grounds and wig- 
wam.; of the savages were supplanted by the paraphernalia of 
civilization, the pure principles of the Christian religion were 
established and cultivated here, on the wild shores of a new 



26 SETTLEMENT BY THE ENGLISH. 

land. From religious persecution at home our fore-fathers 
had fled to this new country, to enjoy the exercise of their 
own liberal opinions. 

The organization of churches, and provision for gospel 
preaching, and attention to the spiritual interests of the colo- 
nies, were to them matters of the first importance. The 
settlers of Southampton, and Southold, were organized into 
chuches before coming to the island, and brought their minis- 
ters with them. 

The churches and their affairs seem to have been regarded 
as being under the fostering care and legitimate charge of the 
people and officers of the town, in their organized capacity. 

Each town was at first an independent government, the 
people in their assemblages making their own laws, and 
choosing their own executives, without any connection or 
allegiance whatever, with any other civil power on the face of 
the earth. Each little colony was a combination of civil, 
military, social, and religious government. Forts were built 
and garrisoned; companies of militia kept organized for pro- 
tection; civil laws enacted and enforced; the social condition 
of the people guarded, and vices which threatened its wellfare 
punished and restrained; churches and schools established, 
and ministers and teachers supported; — by one and the same 
authority — the people in their character as an organized town. 
The expense of sustaining these various departments, includ- 
ing the salaries of ministers and teachers, was met by a tax 
upon the people. Assessments were made upon each indi- 
vidual in proportion to the amount of land he had taken up. 

The towns kept a vigilant eye upon the character of their 
inhabitants. Individuals who proposed to join the settle- 



SETTLEMENT BY THE ENGLISH, 27 

ments, were generally placed on probation for a term of from 
three to six months, and if at the end of the term, their 
behavior and character was approved, they were admitted to 
the privileges of freemen and allotted certain proportions of 
land, with a share in the rights of other settlers. Committees 
were appointed to investigate the character and reputation of 
those who proposed to become fellow residents and freehold- 
ers. Whenever the character of such candidates did not 
prove satisfactory to the townspeople or the committee, they 
were directed to ieave the jurisdiction, generally within a 
specified time. No individual inhabitant was allowed to sell 
or lease real estate, to a stranger not accepted by the town or 
investigating committee as a proper person to become a mem- 
ber of the colony. By enforcing these restrictions, society 
was kept measurably free from the presence of undesirable 
neighbors. 

The judicial and executive functions of each town were 
exercised by two or three magistrates, a clerk, and a constable. 
These officers were elected by the people at their annual town- 
meetings . 

In the town courts juries were drawn for the trial of a case, 
when either party desired it. Seven men were required for a 
jury, and a majority of them was competent to return a 
verdict. These town courts were not only intrusted with 
judicial power, but legislative also, and frequently passed laws 
and orders which were accepted and enforced, the same as 
those passed by the people in their public congregations. 

These public congregations of the people of a town, were 
held annually, for the election of officers, enactment of such 
laws and regulations as the times required, and the decision 



28 SETTLEMENT BY THE ENGLISH. 

of important cases of dispute between individuals, or the 
hearing of heavy criminal cases which might be referred to 
them from the subordinate town court. The people in this 
their sovereign capacity were called the general court of the 
town. Whenever important matters required attention, a 
special session of the general court* was called. 

The town at an early date adopted precautionary measures 
to guard their society against the spreading evils of intem- 
perance. The unrestricted sale of intoxicating drinks was 
forbidden, and the few who were authorized to deal in them 
at all, were held responsible for their obedience to certain 
laws and regulations in the matter. The general courts pre- 
scribed the maximum quantity which might be sold to a single 
individual within a specified time, and a heavy fine, or for- 
feiture of his license, was M\e penalty imposed upon the 
vender avIio should disregard the rule. Inn-keepers were not 
to allow any one to become intoxicated, or to continue drink- 
ing, after a certain hour of the night, under penalty of being 
expelled from the position. Special regulations were pre- 
scribed for dealing out strong drinks to Indians. In some 
cases it was prohibited altogether. 

Sabbath-breaking and profanity were crimes, for which 
most of the towns prescribed punishment. 

Lying, slander, and drunkenness, were provided for by 
rigid enactments. 

The stocks and the whipping-post were common instruments 
of punishment in those days. 

There was no union or combination of these towns into 
counties, or "ridings," until the conquest of 1G64, when the 



SETTLEMENT BY THE ENGLISH. 29 

whole of Long Island fell under the English government of 
New York. 

After managing their own affairs in an independent manner 
for a few years, the English towns of Long Island that were 
in possession of the power to do so, voluntarily placed them- 
selves under the protection of the New England colonies. 
This was done by the different towns at different times. 
Southampton, the first to take the step, sought the protection 
of Connecticut in 1614 In 1G57 Easthampton followed suit. 
Brookhaven did the same in 1659, and Huntington followed 
in 16G0. In 1618 Southold joined the colony of New Haven. 
Shelter Island appears to have been united in its government 
with Southold. These were all the independent towns which 
had been settled previous to the year 1662. 

It is not to be supposed that these towns placed themselves 
under the New England colonies because their efforts at self- 
government had not proved satisfactory. The alliances thus 
formed, were desired for the better protection of these exposed 
towns, and did not subject them to the control or taxation of. 
the New England colonies. The territory occupied by these 
towns, not having been claimed by any of the colonies, and as 
it appears to have been abandoned by the holder of Earl 
Stirling's patent, was in a poor condition for defence against 
invasion by hostile Indians or the Dutch. 

In 1662 the colony of New Haven was united to that of 
Connecticut, and a new and more liberal charter granted to 
the united colony by King Charles II. On the strength of a 
clause in this new charter, including the "islands adjacent," 
Connecticut now claimed Long Island. This claim was sec- 
onded by the towns of Suffolk County. Seeing the provisions 



30 SETTLEMENT BY THE ENGLISH. 

in the new charter, which allowed the people a voice in legis- 
lation as well as the election of their own officers, these towns 
were desirous to become a part of the Connecticut colony, and 
as such they were in a measure constituted. Each town was 
represented by deputies in the Colonial Assembly, and was 
required to contribute its proportionate amount of funds, 
from which to pay the general expenses of the government. 

In 1662 the people of Oysterbay, who had previously main- 
tained a sort of neutral position between the Dutch and 
English, expressed their preference for the authority of the 
latter, and voluntarily placed themselves under the jurisdiction 
of the government of Connecticut. 

In the early part of 1664, the General Court proposed to 
perfect the new arrangements, by organizing and establishing 
courts of justice in the towns on the island. On this mission 
they sent the governor and two others, who called a meeting 
at Setauket in June. 

It is needless to inquire into the arrangements which that 
commission may have made, for whatever they were, they 
were rendered inoperative by the opening of a new epoch in 
the history of the island. That epoch was the conquest of 
1664, a revolution which left Long Island in the hands .of a 
new power. 



CHAPTER III. 



LONG ISLAND UNDER THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT — FROM THE 
CONQUEST OF 1664 TO THE REVOLUTION. 



The year 1664 was the commencement of a new era, which 
burst upon the oppressed English towns on the western part of 
Long Island, like the light of better days to come. It brought 
a revolution of affairs, which revived the drooping spirits of 
a people, whose hopes were well nigh crushed out beneath 
the tyrant's foot. We can imagine the light of gladness, and 
the glow of rising hope, that flashed across the worn faces of 
those pioneers, when they received the welcome tidings, that 
the scepter of New Netherlands had been surrendered to the 
Duke of York. Something like, it must have been, to that 
which sparkled in the eye of Israel's captive children, when 
Moses called them to go out from beneath the rod of their 
Egyptian task-masters. IIow free they breathed the pure air 
of heaven, as though a great burden, long carried, had rested 
from their shoulders. How the mist that had fogged their 
ideal picture of a good government vanished, and faith saw 
the beautiful details of peace, liberty and prosperity intensi- 
fied, and brought nearer. The prospect was indeed "fair to 
look upon," and it inspired fresh hope and new energy in the 
desponding hearts of the inhabitants. 

The English towns under the Dutch had held a mass-meet- 
ing at Jamaica, in November of the year }3reyiQus. to devise 



32 THE COLONIAL PEEIOD. 

if possible some means of relief, but that meeting seems to have 
been about as fruitful of good results as former demonstra- 
tions had been, and no more so. Both the Dutch and English 
settlers were alike prepared to welcome any revolution which 
might promise to liberate them from the unjust and offensive 
rule of that government, whose insults they endured because 
they could not avoid. 

On the 12th of March, 1664, Charles II. of England, by 
virtue of his claim to this part of the American Continent, as 
before stated, made a grant of land to his brother James, 
Duke of York, including within its liberal boundaries, the 
territory then occupied by the Dutch at New Amsterdam, with 
the whole of Long Island. 

The Duke immediately fitted out an expedition, to take 
possession of the field covered by this patent. Richard 
Nicolls was commissioned Deputy Governor of this Colony, 
and Robert Carr, George Cartwright, and Samuel Maverick, 
were appointed to associate with him in governing the colony. 
Under their command, four ships were sent, carrying nearly 
one hundred and fifty guns, and some six hundred men. The 
fleet arrived in New York Bay in August of the same year, 
and Col. Nicolls sent word to Gov. Stuyvesant, demanding a 
surrender of the premises and fortifications held by him. 
Gov. Stuyvesant at first stoutly refused to comply with the 
demand, but after a few days spent in consultation with the 
burgomasters and people of the city, and finding the latter 
strongly in favor of such a course, he was forced to } T ield to 
the popular sentiment, and with much reluctance agreed to a 
surrender. 

While the authorities on Manhattan Island were holding 



THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 33 

controversy over the subject of surrender. Col. Nicolls and 
the Commissioners landed at Gravesend, and held a consulta- 
tion with the people of the island, and Gov. Winthrop of 
Connecticut. To the members of this meeting he exhibited 
the Duke's patent, also his own commission, and those of his 
associates. At the same time, officers were sent to the Eng- 
lish towns, to recruit volunteers for service in an attack upon 
New Amsterdam, should the obstinacy of the governor render 
such a measure necessary. 

About this time, at least before the surrender was made, 
Col. Nicolls and his associate commissioners issued a procla- 
mation, dated August 20th, directed to the people under their 
prospective jurisdiction, in which they promise to those who 
shall submit to "His Majesty's" government as good subjects, 
the peaceable enjoyment of "whatever God's blessing and 
their honest industry have furnished them with, and all other 
privileges with his Majesty's English subjects." By this 
moans the people were led to suppose that a government was 
to be established, in which they would be allowed to partici- 
pate through their chosen representatives, and they hailed 
with gladness the installation of the new regime. 

On the 2Gth of August, old style Gov. Stuyvesant agreed to 
surrender, and the governmental reins of the colony passed 
into English hands. He retired upon a farm in the neighbor- 
hood, which he continued to occupy until the time of his 
death, several years afterward. 

It was with much unwillingness that the formerly independ- 
ent English towns on the eastern part of Long Island, 
consented to the transfer of their political connection and 
patronage, from Connecticut, to the Duke's government 



34 THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 

Connecticut also at first insisted upon her claim to them. 
Gov. Winthrop, however, endeavored by his influence and 
authority to reconcile both parties to the change. 

Colonel, now Governor Nicolls, and his associates, called 
together a few representatives from Connecticut and Long 
Island, on the 30th of November, 1664, and after listening 
to their reasons why the eastern towns of Long Island should 
not be separated from the allegiance of their choice, decided 
that Long Island Sound should be the boundary between that 
colony and the colony or province of New York. To this 
decision the colonial deputies, having really no alternative, 
assented, and Long Island, for the first time united in its 
government, came wholly beneath the rod of English royalty. 

In February, 1665, in order to establish the government 
uniformly in the towns, Gov. Nicolls issued a proclamation, 
directing the people of each town on the island to send two 
deputies to a meeting to be held at Hemj^stead on the first of 
March ensuing. When the deputies assembled, they were so 
much pleased by the prospects of better things than they had 
before enjoyed, that they drew up and signed a memorial of 
gratitude and loyalty, addressed to "His Koyal Highness the 
Duke of York." In this address tlie signers express their 
humble acknowledgement of the honor bestowed upon them, 
in being made the subjects of His Majesty's government, and 
pledge themselves and their constituents to the respect and 
obedience of all such laws and statutes as shall be made by 
virtue of his Majesty's authority; naming this address as a 
memorial and record, to witness against them, should they 
ever fail in the discharge of their duties as loyal subjects; and 
praying for His Majesty's speedy consideration of their 



THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 35 

"poverties and necessities in this wilderness country," and 
soliciting further, his protection, favor, and encouragement, 
in their efforts for the improvement of His Majesty's western 
dominions. The deputies whose signatures are appended to 
this document, represent the towns of New Utrecht, Graves- 
end, Flatlands, Flatbush, Bushwick, Brooklyn, Newtown, 
Flushing, Jamaica, Hempstead, Oysterbay, Huntington, 
Brookhaven, Southold, Southampton, Easthampton, and 
Westchester. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the latter 
town was not on Long Island. 

This expression of the deputies appeared all very well at 
the time, but developments which immediately followed, 
proved it to have been premature. Not long were they per- 
mitted to enjoy the "dear delusion," under whose flattering 
influence they were prompted to make this demonstration of 
submission and reverence. The fact soon became apparent, 
that the people were not to have a voice in the legislation of 
the colony, nor the privilege of electing their own magistrates. 
When these facts became known to the people, they censured 
their deputies for signing the address to His Koyal Highness, 
with such severity, that the court of assize in October, 1666, 
deemed it necessary to pass a resolution to the effect that 
whoever should use vindictive language against any of the 
said deputies should be arrested, and held to answer for slan- 
der before the court of assize. 

At the Hempstead convention the boundaries of the towns 
were settled more definitely, and differences adjusted in real 
estate matters between individuals. The Governor furnished 
the deputies with duplicate copies of a code of laws which had 
been compiled at his dictation, and by which the colony was 



j6 THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 

to be governed. These laws were similar in general to, and 
had probably been taken from those of other English colonies. 
They were called the Duke's laws, and contained many of 
those regulations for the suppression of sabbath-breaking, 
drunkenness, profanity, and slander, which were so common 
among the enactments of the English towns of Suffolk county 
before the conquest. 

The towns of Long Inland were now for the first time or- 
ganized into combinations. They constituted, in connection 
with Staten Island and Westchester, a political division of 
the government, called Yorkshire. This was again subdivided 
into three parts called "ridings." The East riding comprised 
the territory now occupied by Suffolk county. Hempstead, 
Flushing. Jamaica, and Oysterbay, were included in the North 
riding; and the towns at present belonging in Kings county, 
with Newtown, were set off in the West riding. 

The ridings were established principally for the accommo- 
dation of courts, and the convenience of apportioning taxes. 

Each town had a justice of the peace, appointed by the 
governor; and at first eight, afterwards four overseers, and a 
constable, elected by the people, and charged with the duty 
of assessing taxes, holding town courts, and regulating such 
matters of minor importance in the government of the town, 
as should not be provided for by the laws or orders of the 
governor. The jurisdiction of the town court was limited to 
cases not exceeding £5. 

A court of sessions, composed of the justices of the peace, 
was established in each riding. This court was held twice a 
year, and was competent to decide all criminal cases, and all 
civil ones where the sum of difference exceeded £5. Judg- 



« THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 87 

ments rendered in this court, for sums under £20 were final; 
but in cases exceeding that amount, an appeal to the court of 
assize was allowed. Criminal cases involving capital punish- 
ment, required the unanimous concurrence of twelve jurors; 
but all other cases were decided by the majority of seven 
jurors. The high sheriff, members of the council, and the 
secretary of the colony, were authorized to sit with the jus- 
tices in this court. The court of assize was held once a year, 
in the city of New York. It was composed of the governor, 
council, and an indefinite number of the justices. It enter- 
tained appeals from the inferior courts, and had original 
jurisdiction in cases where the demand exceeded £20. The 
governor appointed a high sheriff for the shire, and a deputy 
sheriff for each riding. 

All the towns were now required to take out patents for 
their lands. 

The court of assize was the nominal head of the govern- 
ment — legislative and judicial. It was in reality however, 
nothing more than the governor's cloak, under cover of which 
he issued whatever regulations his judgment or fancy dictated. 
All its members held their positions during his pleasure, and 
were no doubt virtually obliged to sanction his views, and 
second his opinions. 

If therefore the English governors directly after the con 
quest, were less despotic in their rule than the Dutch had 
been before them, their leniency was owing more to disposi- 
tion than the limitation of their power. 

The political situation under the new regime was but little 
better than before. Many of the laws, amendments, and 
orders enacted by the governor through the name of the court 



38 THE COLONIAL PEKIOD. 

of assize, were arbitrary, obnoxious, and oppressive to the 
people. October 9, 1669, several towns on the west end of 
the island petitioned the governor for redress of their griev- 
ances, but without producing the desired effect. 

The early governors imposed duties on imported and 
exported goods, disposed of the public lands, and levied taxes 
on the people, for the support of the government. The 
financial department of the colony, like everything else per- 
taining to its government was under their control, and this 
power over the treasury was, no doubt, in many cases used to 
enrich their own pockets. 

October 8, 1670, a special levy was made upon the towns of 
Long Island, to raise funds to repair the fort at New York. 
In reply to this demand, Southold, Southampton, and East- 
hampton, in a joint meeting by delegates, expressed their 
willingness to submit to the tax, if they could be allowed the 
right of representation in the legislature, to which the latter 
town by the voice of her people added, " but not otherwise." 
The towns of Huntington, Flushing, Hempstead, and Jamaica, 
in their town-meetings, refused to submit to the order, on the 
same grounds — because they were denied the rights of Eng- 
lishmen, to a voice in the law-making of that government 
which they were thus called upon to support. Whether this 
tax was ever collected in these towns or not we do not know, 
but in their refusal to submit to the order, we see the first 
fruits of that spirit of desperate resistance against ' ' taxation 
without representation," which, a little more than a hundred 
years later, culminated in the war for independence. 

This tax was ordered during the administration of Francis 
Lovelace, who succeeded Bichard Nicolls in 1667. It was in 



THE COLONIAL PEKIOD. 39 

keeping with his views on the subject of holding the people 
in submission, as expressed by himself in a letter to a friend, 
by imposing "such taxes on them as may not give them 
liberty to entertain any other thoughts but how to discharge 
them." 

The administration of Governor Lovelace was brought to 
an unexpected end, by the surrender of the colony to its for- 
mer masters, the Dutch. While England was engaged in war 
with Holland, the latter sent out two small squadrons, to 
destroy the commerce of the former with the West Indies. 
These Dutch squadrons, after achieving a very brilliant suc- 
cess in the line of their original undertaking, capturing a 
hundred and twenty sail of French and English merchant- 
men, turned their attention to the re-capture of the former 
Dutch possessions in America. Arriving at Sandy Hook on 
the 30th of July, 1673, they demanded the surrender of the 
fort and colony, which demand was yielded to without a word 
of opposition, or the firing of a single gun. The command- 
ant of the fort, Captain Manning, was afterward tried for 
treachery and cowardice, and sentenced to have his sword 
broken over his head. 

Anthony Colve was immediately appointed governor of the 
colony, and at once commenced the work of obtaining the 
submission of the people to his authority, and re- organizing 
the government according to his own notions. This was a 
comparatively easy matter in the towns which had been under 
the Dutch before, but with the towns of the East riding it 
was quite different. After modifying the conditions, however, 
so that none but the magistrates were required to take the 
oath of allegiance, and the promise of like privileges in the 



40 THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 

choice of their officers, and so forth, as had been enjoyed by 
the English towns under the Dutch, Huntington and 
Brookhaven submitted, but Southold, Southampton, and 
Easthampton, rejected all attempts at compromise. They 
sent deputies to Connecticut, to solicit protection from that 
colony against the advances of the Dutch. Their request was 
granted, and the three towns were organized into a county, 
under the jurisdiction of Connecticut. October 30, the 
Dutch governor sent three commissioners to these towns, to 
induce them to submit. They sailed down the Sound, and 
visited Shelter Island and Southold, where they found the 
people assembled and armed for resistance. Nothing could 
be done to induce submission, and the commissioners return- 
ed from a fruitless errand. The Dutch were so enraged at 
the obstinacy of these towns, that they threatened to reduce 
them by fire and the sword. In execution of this plan, an 
armed force was sent down the Sound to the east end. Mean- 
while Connecticut sent a re-inforcement of troops to the 
\ assistance of the refractory English towns. The Dutch forces 
made several attempts to gain a foot-hold but were rebutted 
in every attack, and finally were driven from the island. 

November 26th, 1673, Connecticut, in conjunction with the 
other New England colonies, declared war against the Dutch, 
and commenced preparations accordingly. Before these 
preparations were completed however, or any attack had been 
made, the news arrived that peace had been declared between 
the mother countries, on the 9th of February, 1674, which 
news was of course a signal for a stay of proceedings. 

By the conditions of that treaty of peace, all conquests 
made during the war were to be restored to their former 



THE COLONIAL PEKIOD. 41 

owners, so it was clear that Long Island would be restored 
to the English authority. Notwithstanding this, it would 
seem that the Dutch governor cherished some hopes of retain- 
ing his authority here. He seems at any rate to have 
determined on holding it .as long as possible, and as late as 
March 27, 1674, made preparations for defense against the 
expected attacks of Connecticut. It is possible that at that 
time he had not learned the conditions of the treaty of peace. 

The three eastern towns which had effectually resisted the 
attempts to subjugate them, now dreaded the return of the 
Duke's arbitrary government, and determined if possible, to 
retain their connection with Connecticut. Accordingly they 
sent a committee to solicit a firmer establishment of their 
alliance, and May 14th, the general court of that colony, after 
considering the application, decided to grant the request as 
far as it was in their power to do, and appointed commission- 
ers to go over and settle the government of the county on a 
more permanent basis. In June these towns appointed a 
committee to petition the King, to allow them to remain 
under the authority of Connecticut. The petition, if ever 
made, seems not to have been granted. 

June 29th, 1674, the Duke of York obtained from the King 
a new patent for the province of New York, and soon after, 
appointed Edmund Andros governor of the colony. 

The new governor arrived in America, and received the 
surrender of New York on the 31st of October, the same year. 
He at once set about reinstating the Duke's government. 
The three eastern towns of Long Island declared themselves 
under the government of Connecticut, and expressed their 
intention "so to continue." They presented to the governor 



42 THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 

a memorial to this effect. This was signed by their deputies, 
John Mulford of Easthampton, John Howell of Southampton, 
and John Youngs of Southold. November 16th, the gover- 
nor ordered these deputies to appear before the council, to 
answer for their action. The same date, a messenger was sent 
to these towns, to require them to re-instate the former con- 
stables and overseers, under penalty of being declared rebels. 
Their endeavors to cling to their favorite government of 
Connecticut were unavailing, and they were obliged to submit 
with the other towns of the island, to the Duke's government. 

This was simply a repetition of the former despotism. In 
April, 1682, it appears a meeting of delegates from some, or 
all of the towns, had been held for the purpose of devising 
some means of relief from present grievances. Five of the 
inhabitants of Huntington, who attended this meeting, were 
arrested at the governor's order, and imprisoned without 
charge or trial. The authoritative disposition, and almost 
unlimited power of the governor, was exhibited by several 
other similar instances. 

It is probable that at this period the general discontent had 
become so manifest, and the clamor for representation so 
strong, that the governor was impelled, either by compassion- 
ate regard for the j)opular feeling, or more likely through fear 
of a general uprising, to give heed to the demand of the 
people. The subject seems to have been referred to the 
Duke, and by him favorably considered. Col. Thomas Don- 
gan having received the appointment of governor, took the 
position on the 27th of August, 1683, with instructions from 
the Duke, to call a general assembly of the pe.\.jie's repre- 
sentatives. 



THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 43 

The first assembly of the colony of New York, in accordance 
with these instructions, was convened at the city of New York, 
on the 17th of October, 1683. This assembly "adopted a bill 
of rights, repealed some of the most obnoxious of the Duke's 
laws, altered and amended others, and passed such new laws 
as they judged the circumstances of the colony required." 
At this session an act was passed abolishing the "ridings," 
and organizing in their stead the counties of Kings, Queens, 
and Suffolk, with some alterations in the constitution of the 
courts. 

In October, 1684, the same assembly met again. Among 
the acts passed at this session was one by which the court of 
assize was abolished. 

The election of a new assembly took place in September, 
1685. In October following, this assembly was organized. 
Only two or three unimportant acts of this assembly remain 
on record, and it is probable that whatever other acts it may 
have passed, if any, they were never enforced. 

Charles II, King of England, died February 6th, 1685; and 
the throne was taken by his brother, the Duke of York, under 
the title, James II. After assuming this position, the latter 
abolished the colonial assembly of New York, and re-estab- 
lished the governor as its supreme head, subject only to such 
instructions as the King himself might from time to time 
dictate. It is possible that this decree went into effect while 
the assembly was in session. This was the end of the people's 
voice in legislation, under the Duke's government. 

By the accession of the Duke of York to the throne, all the 
colonies of New England came under his power. He appoint- 
ed Sir Edmund Andros governor over the whole, New York 



44 THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 

included. July 28, 1688, Gov. Dongan received orders from 
the King to deliver the seal of the province to his superior. 
Gov. Andros had authority to appoint a deputy or lieutenant 
governor in each colony. He appointed Francis Nicholson 
over New York, and went himself to Boston. 

In April, 1689, the news reached the colonies of America, 
that James II had been driven from the throne, by the English 
revolution, and that William and Mary succeeded him. On 
hearing this the people of Massachusetts, who had suffered 
under the tyranny of the royal governor Andros, rose up, 
seized him, imprisoned him, and sent him to England. 

Encouraged by this demonstration, a company of the 
inhabitants of New York, led on by one Jacob Leisler, a man 
whose ambition for authority exceeded his principles of justice 
and honor, seized the fort at New York, and drove the lieu 
tenant governor away. This was done about the first of June. 
Leisler professed that his object was to hold the government 
from being seized by the enemies of the revolution, until the 
authorized representatives of William and Mary should be 
sent to take command. By persuading the people that there 
was real danger of such an event, he succeeded in obtaining 
their assistance. As Nicholson himself is said to have been 
in sympathy with the revolution, the action of Leisler was 
uncalled for, and not warranted by the reason which he 
asserted, but as his subsequent record clearly shows, his 
movements were dictated more by personally selfish con- 
siderations than by the patriotic motives which he pretended. 
After his expulsion Nicholson returned to England. 

Leisler and his votaries in trying to get command of the 
helm of government found at first strong opposition to their 



THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 45 

authority, in some of the towns of Long Island. The eastern 
towns whose attachment to Connecticut had not died out, 
made another attempt to unite themselves with that colony. 
In this attempt they were unsuccessful. June 26th, a com- 
mittee of safety was organized, which was composed of two 
deputies from each county in the province. This committee 
left the management of affairs with Leisler, subject however 
to their advice and approval. 

In December, letters from England were received instruct- 
ing whoever might be in temporary authority over the colony 
of New York, to take command as lieutenant governor, and to 
appoint as many officers as he saw fit, to assist him in the 
administration of the government. These instructions Leisler 
interpreted as being addressed to himself, and accordingly 
assumed the position of commander-in-chief, and demanded 
submission to his own authority. A few of the counties sub- 
mitted, and others did not. He however managed to sustain 
his position. Huntington expressed a willingness to accept 
Leisler's authority, but the other towns of Suffolk County 
appear to have absolutely refused any connection with the 
usurper or his government. In the spring of 1690 he called 
for a general assembly. Suffolk County refused to send any 
delegates. One delegate elected for Queens County refused 
to act. Strong opposition to his authority was manifested in 
that county. He appears to have made two or three attempts 
to reduce the people there to submission, by force, but with 
what success we do not know. 

Leisler's administration was attended wren acts of despotism 
that would be wearisome to recount. The colony continued 



46 THE COEONIA1. period. 

in ci discordant and unsettled condition throughout his 
reign. 

On the 19fch of March, 1691, Henry Slaughter, having been 
appointed governor of the colony, arrived, and demanded 
possession of the fort and reins of government. Leisler 
refused to give up the post, but was compelled to do so, and 
was afterwards tried and executed for high treason. 

Thus, for more than half a century after the first settle- 
ment of the island, the public mind was kept in almost 
constant agitation and discontent. The frequent changes of 
rulers and consequent revolution of political affairs; the 
constant dread and fear of hostilities from the Indians; the 
insecurity experienced from the imperfect legal machinery of 
those times; the oppressive acts of the governors, and their 
utter disregard for the people's rights; all conspired to make 
the situation of our forefathers extremely unpleasant and 
discouraging. Under such distressing circumstances as they 
were obliged to contend with, it would not appear strange, if 
the progress of civilization was slow; but strange indeed it 
does appear that it progressed at all — strange that society did 
not degenerate into absolute barbarism, or the people aban- 
don the naked island to the savages and the tyrants. We 
cannot but wonder that in the face of these facts which history 
hands down, settlers should continue to migrate hither. 

From this time forward, until the disruption of the colonial 
government in May, 1775, the throne of Great Britain held 
undisputed control, through its governors, over the colony of 
New York, of which Long Island was a part. 

The government as then constituted and afterward main- 
tained, was composed of the governor and council, appointed 



THE COLONIAL PEKIOD. 47 

by the throne, and the assembly, whose members were elected 
by the freeholders of each county. The council at first 
numbered seven members, but was afterwards increased to 
twelve. The governor was the chief executive. The legisla- 
tive power lay in the governor, council and assembly. All 
laws were further subject to the revision of the King, to whom 
they must be sent within three months from their date. 

Governor Slaughter appears to have shown more regard for 
the rights and wishes of the people than his predecessors had, 
or many of his successors did. "He succeeded, as far as the 
nature of the government would allow, in quieting the com- 
motions that had disturbed the peace of the people, and in 
restoring harmony and friendly relations in the colony. 
Among his first acts was the confirmation under the seal of 
the province, of all grants, charters or patents which had 
previously been issued. We may say that with his adminis- 
tration a new era commenced. The colonial government was 
established on a more permanent and satisfactory plan than it 
had before been, though in its improved condition it was still 
very far from what the people would have wished. As then 
established it continued in general features with but few 
alterations up to the eve of the American revolution. The 
gubernatorial reins passed in frequent succession from one to 
another, at the pleasure of the British crown. 

Though the introduction of the general assembly was an 
important check upon the unlimited abuse of power by the 
governor, he yet retained considerable authority, which he 
used for his own pecuniary benefit. The disposal of all such 
lands as had not been taken up by individuals or companies, 
rested in him. The profits arising from the exercise of this 



4:8 THE COLONIAL PEBIOD. 

prerogative, in the way of fees and quit-rents on the patents 
and grants issued by him, afforded a very handsome revenue. 
The following items of history illustrate somewhat the 
character and disposition of the governors and their acts, as 
well as the condition of society, and the progress of improve- 
ments and civilized ideas, during the period which elapsed 
between this time and the suspension of the colonial govern- 
ments. 

During the reign of Gov. Fletcher, which commenced in 
1692, a farmers fair or market, held every week for the sale 
or exchange of cattle, produce, or anything in the line, was 
established at Jamaica. It was probably conducted on a plan 
similar to the custom in England. 

April 10th, 1693, a statute was passed giving to Long Island 
the name "Island of Nassau," which though never repealed 
seems to have been but little regarded. Custom, more power- 
ful than legislation, established in preference the homely but 
appropriate title by which the island has been known ever 
since it fell into the hands of white men. 

It was also during the administration of Gov. Fletcher that 
an act was passed providing for the support of the ministry 
by a tax on the people. The benefits of the act are supposed 
to have been intended, by the assembly at least, to apply to 
all denominations of Christians. This understanding of the 
matter by that body was expressed by a resolution to the same 
effect, passed in 1695; but it is said the governor refused to 
accept their version of it, and contrary to the wishes of the 
assembly and the people, appropriated the patronage of the 
act to the exclusive benefit of the Episcopal party. All the 



THE COLONIAL PEEIOD. 49 

"way through, the patronage and favor of the colonial gover- 
nors were given to this denomination, to the discomfort 
and actual oppression of others. 

During the administration of Lord Cornbury, which com- 
menced in the year 1702, he and his council were obliged to 
flee from the city of New York, to avoid a very fatal epidemic 
(supposed to have been yellow fever) which was raging there. 
They sought refuge from the pestilence in the quiet suburban 
retreat of Jamaica. Here the parsonage, the best house in 
the town, then occupied by a Presbyterian minister, was 
generously given up to him for a residence. When the gover- 
nor returned to the city, instead of restoring it to its former 
occupant, he left it in the hands of the Episcopal party, as he 
also did the elegant stone church which the town had but a 
few years before completed, and which he, the bigoted gover- 
nor, had unjustly seized during his stay at Jamaica. He 
furthermore, as is supposed, instructed the sheriff to seize 
certain lands, which had been set apart by the town for the 
benefit of its ministry, and to lease out the same, appropriat- 
ing the profits to the support of the Episcopal ministry. It 
was not until some twenty-five years afterwards, that the 
property thus arbitrarily seized, was restored to its rightful 
owners. 

On another occasion this same governor, who is spoken of 
by Thompson as the ''miserable tool of royalty," caused the 
arrest and imprisonment of two Presbyterian ministers, for 
no other crime than preaching the gospel without obtaining 
liberty from him so to do. 

November 2d, 1717, an act was passed by the colonial gov- 



50 THE COLONIAL PEEIOD. 

eminent, offering a reward of nine shillings for each wild cat, 
and five shillings for each fox killed on Long Island. 

In 1721, a very curious bill was presented to the assembly, 
entitled "an act against denying the divinity of our Saviour 
Jesus Christ; the doctrine of the blessed Trinity; the truth of 
the Holy Scriptures; and spreading atheistical books." The 
assembly, whose members evidently did not believe in trying 
to control private opinion on religious subjects by legislation, 
refused to give the bill their sanction. 

In June, i726, an act was passed, prohibiting the setting on 
fire, and burning of dead grass upon Hempstead plains. 
Before that, it seems the habit of firing the plains had been 
frequently indulged in, by lawless individuals, much to the 
annoyance and hazard of the neighboring inhabitants. This 
act named twenty-two persons who were appointed by it to 
assist in extinguishing such fires. 

It was during the administration of Gov. Cosby, in October, 
1732, that an act was passed regulating the New York and 
Brooklyn ferry, and establishing the rates of passage for peo- 
ple and various animals, carts, wagons, &c. 

In the year 1741 the famous "Negro Plot" was partially 
carried into effect in the city of New York. Its supposed 
object was the entire destruction of the city by fire. A reign 
of terror and excitement, comparatively equal to the draft 
riots of 1863, or the burning of Chicago in 1871, was the con- 
sequence. The city at that time contained about ten thousand 
white inhabitants, and two thousand negro slaves. "During 
this dreadful consternation," Thompson says, "more than one 
hundred and fifty negroes were imprisoned, of whom fourteen 



THE COLONIAL PEKIOD. 51 

were burned at the stake, eighteen were hanged, seventy-one 
ransported, and the remainder ijardoned, or discharged for 
want of proof." 

Some of the New York governors appear to have made a 
pretty good use of their opportunities for manipulating the 
bag-strings of the colony. Here are two instances. George 
Clarke, who had held the position a little less than eight years, 
retired in 1743; with the snug little sum of a hundred thousand 
pounds sterling. Whether he belonged to the " Tammany 
Ring " of that day, or not we don't know, but these figures look 
decidedly as though there had been some nice financial engi- 
neering somewhere in his policy. His immediate successor, 
George Clinton, drank too much wine and didn't manage to 
save quite as much money. He filled the chair about ten 
years, and retired in 1753, with about eighty thousand pounds 
sterling, as the reward of his industry. 

Sir Danvers Osborne was appointed to the governorship in 
1753. This gentleman brought with him a good reputation — 
a rare virtue in the colony governors; and he evidently con- 
sidered its unspotted preservation a more important object 
than making money. Five days after his arrival he hung 
himself. 

Sir Charles Hardy was appointed governor in 1755. Hardy 
was a fighting man, and didn't care to trouble his brain a 
great deal with the government of the colony. He left its 
administration in the hands of his deputy, James DeLancey, 
while he himself held a commission in the British navy. This 
was during the war between the English and the French, in 
America, which commenced in 1755. 

This was ended and the treaty of peace signed February 



52 THE COLONIAL PEEIOD. 

10th, 1763, by which all the French possessions east of the 
Mississippi were ceded to Great Britain. 

Immediately after the close of the war, Great Britain began 
to be jealous of the increasing strength of her colonies in 
America, and in order to make her power over them more 
secure, decided to maintain a standing army among them, and 
to raise a revenue here, to help pay the national debt incurred 
in carrying on the war against the French, determined to im- 
pose an indirect tax on the people. 

Soon after the appointment of Sir Henry Moore as gover- 
nor, in 1765, the colony began to be disturbed by those violent 
commotions of the public spirit which immediately preceeded 
the revolution, and resulted in wrenching the colony from the 
grasp of English royalty. The odious stamp act, which 
required all written instruments, as well as printed news 
papers and pamphlets, to be executed upon stamped paper, 
on which a duty was to be paid to the crown, was passed that 
year. This met with such determined opposition, that it was 
repealed the following year. 

In 1765, the assembly of Massachusetts passed a resolution, 
calling for a convention of the colonies for the defense of 
their rights. Nine colonies responded to the call, by sending 
delegates to the first convention, which met at New York in 
October. That congress, as it was called, passed a declaration 
of rights, in which they deny the right of Great Britain to 
tax the colonies, without allowing them to be represented in 
parliament. 

In 1767, Great Britain imposed a tax on paper, glass, paint 
er's colors, and tea. This again aroused a tornado of 
excitement and opposition throughout the colonies. In 1770 



THE COLONIAL PEBIOD. 53 

the duties were removed from all but the tea. The duty 
remaining on that article was but three pence a pound, but 
the determined colonists would not submit to the principle 
of taxation without representation, be the amount ever so 
small. 

September 4th, 1774, another continental congress was held 
at Philadelphia, and still another on the 10th of May, 1775. 

The last colonial assembly of New York adjourned on the 
3rd of April, 1775. On the 22d of May following, the provin- 
cial congress of New York was convened. This congress 
recommended the people to appoint county and town com- 
mittees for the management of the government, which was 
done. 

William Tryon the last of the colonial governors of New York 
abandoned the position and left the city on the 13th of 
October, 1775, the date which is considered as the close of 
royal authority here. It is evident that the authority of the 
governor had for several months previous been somewhat cur- 
tailed, if not disregarded altogether, by the organization of 
the town and county committees, and the provincial congress. 
These representatives of the people administered the govern- 
ment, until the organization of the State government in 1777. 

Confusion and excitement at this period was rampant 
throughout the American colonies. The pent up feelings of 
a nation, which, though held in subjection by the hand of 
English royalty for more than a century, had all the while 
been gathering strength for the approaching conflict, now 
burst forth with all the determined energy of desperation. 
The voice of the people sounded through the colonies, in open 
rebellion against the power that would hold them in subjec- 



54 THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 

tion, and gradually their uprising had broken asunder, one 
after another, the bands which English tyranny had thrown 
around them. Indignation meetings had been held in every 
city and village, and the dark and angry clouds of popular 
passion, which boded war, had been gathering thick and fast, 
until high above the political horizon loomed their ominous 
thunder-heads. The long brooding tempest was fast approach- 
ing, and the patriots of America with boiling enthusiasm, and 
a determination that would prefer death to the conditions of 
peace, bade it hasten on and finish its work, however distress- 
ing to them its consequences might be. One after another 
the revenue officers, stationed by the English crown in 
various parts of the colonies, had been compelled to resign 
their positions and flee for life before the tidal wave of public 
Indignation. New England soil had been invaded by the 
armies of the oppressor; immortal Bunker Hill had received 
its baptism of blood and fire; an army of seventeen thousand 
patriots had been organized, with Washington at its head; 
New Year's day of '76 had been celebrated by raising the 
national flag for the first time over that army; Howe with his 
eleven thousand British soldiers had been driven from Boston; 
North Carolina and Massachusetts in the front ranks of the 
movement had clasped hands in the great struggle of liberty 
against the invasions of royal power; and finally, the grand 
climax of the national commotion had been reached, by the 
passage of that bold assertion of the people's rights, and 
daring expression of the people's sentiments, embodied in 
the Declaration of Independence, by which the colonies of 
North America were claimed to be "free and independent 
SlatesJ* 



THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 55 

This most important and decisive event, as every school-boy- 
knows, took place at Philadelphia, on the 4th of July, 1770. 
As the news of it spread through the country, the people were 
wild with patriotic excitement, and lavish in their enthusiastic 
demonstrations of approval. 

After the memorable event of that day, the first engagement 
of arms was upon Long Island. The British having evacuated 
Boston, Washington naturally supposed that the next point of 
attack would be New York, and made preparations to defend 
it. To resist an approach by the way of Long Island, a line 
of works was extended from Wallabout Bay to Gowanus Cove, 
with the strongest fortifications upon Brooklyn Heights. The- 
British forces having arrived in New York Bay some time 
before, landed near New Utrecht on the 22d of August, about 
10,000 strong. On the morning of the 27th they came upon 
the American out-posts, in the neighborhood of the present 
site of Greenwood Cemetery, and after a severe struggle of 
several hours duration, drove them within the lines. On the 
night of the 29th the American army abandoned the works at 
Brooklyn, and under cover of a dense fog and the impenetra- 
ble darkness of the night, passed across the East River to New 
York. The American loss in killed, wounded and prisoners, 
is estimated at about 3,000. Among the prisoners were Gen- 
erals Sullivan and Stirling. General Woodhull, of the militia 
of Queens and Suffolk, engaged in driving the cattle which 
were pasturing upon the plains, beyond the reach of the 
British, was captured near Jamaica on the 28th. At the time 
of his surrender, he was inhumanly set upon by the party who 
took him, receiving severe wounds on the arm and head. His 
wounds, being allowed to remain without care for several days, 
proved fatal. 



Rfi THE COLONIAL PEKIOD. 

The island was now in the full possession of the British 
troops. They wandered up and down upon it, stationing them- 
selves in detachments here and there, as the fields for plunder 
invited them, committing whatever acts of violence and out- 
rage upon the property or persons of the unprotected people 
which their unrestrained propensities dictated. Civil govern- 
ment on the island was completely dissolved. Officers of the 
militia, members of the town and county committees, and 
many others who had taken an active part in the strike for 
liberty, fied from the island, or were seized and confined in 
loathsome prisons, where in many cases theii sufferings were 
only relieved by death. The property of such prominent 
* 'rebels," was often wantonly destroyed by the lawless soldiery. 
The people generally were compelled to take the oath of alle- 
giance to the King. Presbyterian churches and burying- 
grounds, were made special subjects of desecration and 
wanton outrage. Fences were demolished, buildings torn 
down, timber felled and carried off, grain and growing crops 
seized or destroyed, cuttle and other property taken from their 
owners, money and labor extorted from the inhabitants, 
dwelling-houses pillaged, or appropriated to the use of officers 
or troops, churches turned into horse-stables, grave yards 
leveled down, — in fact it would seem as though all the devilish 
inclinations that could find a place in the heart of a soldier, 
hardened by scenes of war and cruelty, were indulged without 
restraint or scruple, by the petty officers and soldiers of the 
British army who were stationed on Long Island during those 
long, dismal years of the revolution. 

When the state government was organized, in 1777, pro- 
vision was made for representation in Senate and assembly, 



THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 57 

of those parts of the state in possession of the British, by 
persons who had removed from thence to other sections not 
so encumbered. In this way Long Island was represented in 
the legislature, until the withdrawal of the British troops, in 
the early part of 1783, left the people once more free to act 
according to their pleasure in the re-organization of civil 
government. 

But after all the oppression and outrage with which Long 
Island had been burdened; even after the last yoke of English 
power had been removed, the people were not allowed to 
enjoy the brightening sunshine of peace and liberty, until 
another act of flaming injustice, imposed, not by the hand of a 
foreign enemy, but by their own friends, with whom they 
were associated and bound in the newly formed civil relations, 
was added to the list. It was not enough that the people of 
Long Island were made the servants and subjects of an army 
of ruthless invaders during those six long years; not enough 
that they were cut off from their civil connections; fettered 
and harassed continually by the presence of a military force 
stationed over them; not enough that their property was 
taken from them or destroyed, their most sacred institutions 
desecrated, their tenderest feeling blasphemously trampled 
upon, and their persons subjected to any extent of insult or 
injury that a brutal soldiery might impose upon them. To 
add to all this burden, and to fill the cup of bitterness quite 
full, the state legislature May 6th, 1784, passed an act by 
which the people of Long Island were obliged to return £37,- 
000 to other parts of the state, for not having been able to 
take an active part in the war. However equitable this 
measure might have appeared to the imagination of that 



58 THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 

legislature, unbiased posterity will brand it as an act of injustice 
to the oppressed people of Long Island, scarcely surpassed by 
tlie tyrannical acts of the royal governors of the past. 

The following paragraphs, which we take the liberty to 
copy from Onderdonk's preface to his " Revolutionary Inci- 
dents," presents a very conci.se view of the state of affairs in 
the three counties of Long Island, at the commencement of, 
and during that memorable struggle for liberty. 

" The counties of Suffolk, Queens and Kings, each played 
a different and yet approx3i*iate part in the great drama of the 
revolution." 

" At the first outbreak of rebellion in the port of Boston, 
we find the Puritans of Suffolk assembling in almost every 
town, and voting resolutions of aid and sympathy for their 
brethren of the Massachusetts Bay. Nor were these expres- 
sions heartless. The people were ready to follow their lead- 
ers in rebellion, the militia were organized, and Suffolk 
armed for the contest. " 

"Far different was the state of feeling in Queens County. 
Here the Royal Governors, and other crown officers had 
occasionally resided, and exerted an overshadowing influence. 
They were often connected with other wealthy and aristo- 
cratic families in the County, who had also their adherents 
and dependents. Then, there Avas the peacable Quaker, the 
passive Dutchman ; and the Church-of-England-man, bound 
to the King by a double tie, as head of Church and State. 
All these made a dead weight, that the rampant spirit of 
rebellion could hardly move, until the Congressional army 
marched into the County, disarmed the Loyalists and carried 
off their leaders. " 

" The population of Kings County was mostly Dutch, who 
made but a tardy and feeble show of resistance to the powers 
that be ; her deputies finally absented themselves from the 
Provincial Congress, and the flagging spirit of revolt quickly 
subsided at the approach of the British fleet." 

"After the American army abandoned the Island to the 
enemy, there was still a difference in the conduct of the 
Counties. The prominent Whigs of Suffolk fled to their 
brethren on the main, with what movables they could carry, 
leaving behind their stock, houses and farms to the enemy. 



THE COLONIAL PEKTGD. gg 

Those who remained, reluctantly took an oath of allegiance, 
which they never meant to regard, and were ever treacherous 
subjects of a King they had sworn to obey." 

"The great majority of the people of Queens County, took 
the oath of allegiance in good faith, and observed it. Most 
of the leading Whigs, trusting to British proclamations, and 
not knowing where to go, remained at home, and were pun- 
ished in various ways for their undutiful conduct. Many 
suffered imprisonment, which to some ended only in death." 

"The case of Kings County was somewhat similar to that 
of Queens. Many of its peace-loving inhabitants had already 
deserted their houses on the prospect of its becoming the 
theatre of hostilities. The leading Whigs fled among their 
Dutch brethren, some to New Jersey, and some up the North 
River, while a few who remained and trusted to the chances 
of British clemency, were thrown in the Provost." 

' ' Within two months after the American army had given 
up the Island, the principal inhabitants of the three Counties 
had signed a representation of loyalty to King George the 
Third ; and in order that their wholesome example of dutiful 
return to obedience might have its influence on the other 
rebellious portions of the State, it was jmblished at length in 
the New York Mercury with the names of all the signers in 
Queens and Kings Counties." 

"During the entire period of the Revolution, the British 
held New York City, a part of Westchester County, and all 
of Staten and Long Island under military rule. There were 
no elections — no voting except at annual town meetings — 
none except town taxes to pay — no judges — no courts of civil 
judicature, their place being supplied by the arbitrary flat of 
a King's justice or some military character. True, a summary 
Court of Police was after a while established in New York 
City ; and at length, in the year 1780, for the greater conven- 
ience of His Majesty's loyal subjects on Long Island, a 
Court of Police was also opened in Jamaica. The inhabitants 
could not go to or from the city, or bring out goods, without 
a permit. The price of wood and farmer's produce was 
regulated by proclamation ; their horses, wagons and persons, 
could at any time be impressed into the King's service, at a 
stipulated price. In the winter season almost every village 
and hamlet was filled with British soldiers and wagoners, bil- 
leted in the people's houses, or cantoned in temporary huts. 
The consequence was, a ready market and high price for such 
of the farmer's produce as had not been previously pilfered. 



60 THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 

The farmers flourished on British gold ; but as there were few 
opportunities for investing it, and no banks of deposit for 
sale keeping, they were compelled to keep their money by 
them, and were often robbed. The churches, not of the 
established faith, were mostly occupied by soldiers, or used 
as storehouses and prisons; some were even torn down. " 

' ' In Suffolk County, the illicit trade forms a striking fea- 
ture. This consisted in buying imported goods in New York, 
(with the professed design of retailing them to faithful sub- 
jects in the County,) and then carrying them down the Island 
to secret landing places, whence they were sent across the 
Sound in whale-boats, under cover of night, and exchanged 
with the people of Connecticut for provisions, and farmer's 
produce, of which the British army stood in great need. 
Though this trade was prohibited by both American and 
British authority, yet the cunning of the smugglers (who 
often acted as spies) • generally eluded the sleepy vigilance of 
government officials. This trade was protected by the sparse 
population of Suffolk County, the extensive sea-border, the 
absence of a British armed force, and the proverbial insin- 
cerity of the people in their professed allegiance." 

" Owing to this Whiggish feeling of the inhabitants, every 
invading party of their brethren from the main — whether to 
Sag Harbor, St. George's, or Slongo — always found ready 
and effectual aid in guides, food or information. Indeed, 
Washington used to say, that he always had more correct 
knowledge by spies, of the position and designs of the Brit- 
ish army on Long Island, than at any other place. In fine, 
the British authority in Suffolk County, was little more than 
an empty shadow." 

At the close of the ^Revolution the population of Long 
Island was not far different from 30,000 : about seven thou- 
sand more than the city of New York, or about one seventh of 
the j)opulation of the state. Liberated from the burden of 
royal domination it now began like other parts of the coun- 
try, to improve more rapidly under the generous influences 
of the free state government. The progress of improvements, 
though for the most part slow, has been steadily maintained 
up to the present time. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE INDIAN TRIBES — THEIR HABITS, DISPOSITION, LANGUAGE, 
COMMERCE, AND CIVILIZATION — EARLY CUSTOMS OE THE SET- 
TLERS. 

To go back and commence at the starting-point of history, 
we must quote the sacred writer when he said, ' ' In the begin- 
ning, God created the heaven and the earth." At a period 
not far remote from that referred to in this quotation, we have 
reason to believe Long Island was created, and brought to the 
light of day. Whether it was originally formed as it now lies, 
a distinct island, or whether it was as some suppose, a con- 
stituent part and parcel c f the main land, which, during some 
great natural commotion seceded from the mother continent 
and started out to ''paddle its own canoe," we have not the 
authority to assert. 

The above quotation is the only historical record we are 
able to find, touching the origin of this beautiful island. 
During the ages of time that intervened between that uncer- 
tain period known as " the beginning," and the early part of 
the seventeenth century of the Christian era, history is silent 
on this score. The record of events which passed here dur- 
ing that long period, sleeps in oblivion. The summer 
breezes that fanned these plains, and moaned through these 
forest pines ; the tempest that howled among the branches of 
mighty oaks ; the ocean surges that washed these shores, 
v. hen the first white man set foot upon our soil, told no tale 
of the rise and fall of savage powers — of chivalric fame — of 



62 THE INDIAN TBIBES. 

conquests, exploits, and achievements, which had engrossed 
the attention of its savage inhabitants for ages past. They 
and their history were alike blotted from the memory of suc- 
ceeding generations. No memorial was left to tell us what 
scenes were passing here when Romulus laid the foundations 
of ancient Rome, or while the shepherds of Judea ' ' watched 
their flocks by night," on the eve of the Saviour's advent. 
The story of human love and hatred ; hope and despair ; 
success and failure ; that made up the lives of those who had 
for unknown centuries occupied these valleys and plains, was 
to the civilized world a sealed book, which nothing but the 
thunder that shall wake the dead at the last day will ever 
open. 

At the time the island was first discovered by Europeans, it 
was occupied by thirteen different tribes of Indians, who 
inhabited principally the north and south shores. On the 
north side, in respective order from west to east were 'the 
Matinecock, the Nissequag, the Setalcott, and the Corchaug 
tribes. On the south side in the same order were the 
Canarsee, the Rockaway, the Merric, the Marsapeague, the 
Secatogue, the Patchogue, the Shinnecock, and the Montauk 
tribes. The Manhasset tribe occupied Shelter Island. 
Wyandanch, the Montauk chief, was the Grand Sachem of 
Long Island. 

The Montauk tribe had subdued all the tribes of the island 
east of the Canarsee territory, and were themselves under 
tribute to the Pequots, who occupied the eastern part of Con- 
necticut. The Canarsee tribe occupied the western extremity 
of the island, on the south side. They were under tribute to 
the Mohawks. This tribute consisted of an annual assess- 



THE INDIAN TRIBES. 63 

ment of wampum and dried clams. By the advice of the 
whites it is said they refused to pay their tribute, and the 
Mohawks, exasperated by their rebellion, came upon them 
suddenly and destroyed the whole tribe, except a few who 
happened to be absent. 

The language spoken by the Long Island Indians, was 
similar to that of the Narragansetts and other neighboring 
tribes, which was probably a dialect of the Delaware lan- 
guage, one of the two original languages of the North 
American Indians. From Wood's History we quote the 
following list of common words, with their corresponding 
English, taken down many years ago by John Lyon Gardiner, 
from the lips of a Montauk chief, and preserved as the only 
existing relics of a language now extinct. 

Massakeat mund, — Great, Good Spirit, 

Machees cund, — Evil Spirit. 

Saunchem, — King. 

Saeunskq, — Queen. 

Wonnux, — white man. 

Wonnuxk, — white woman. 

Tnchun. — Indian. 

We wau churn, — Indian corn, 

Mausqueseets, — beans. 

Ausgoote, — pumpkins. 

Quauhaug, — a round clam. 

Suxawaug. — a long clam, 

Tobaugsk, — tobacco. 

Cheaganan, — a hatchet. 

Niep, — water. 

Keagh, or Eage, — land. 



64 THE INDIAN TRIBES. 

Mashuee, — a canoe. 

Machaweeskt, — a little child. 

Yunks quash, — young woman, 

Squashees, — little girl. 

Weenai, — old woman. 

Sumauna, — give . 

Cheesk, — small. 
, Chiauk, — large. 

Weegan, — good. 

Muttadeaio, — bad. 

Wedaums, — roast corn. 

Cut daus, — boiled corn. 

Seaump, — pounded corn. 

Yeokeheag, — roast corn pounded. 
The numerals were: — Nucqut, one; Neeze, two; Nisk, three; 
Yuaw, four; Nepaw, five; Conma, six; Nusus, seven; Swans, 
eight; Passecucond, nine; Pyunck, ten. 

In the matter of Indian names, which occur so frequently 
in the history of every locality, and in many cases are still 
retained, we find much perplexity, caused by the variety of 
different names for the same place, as well as the more fre- 
quent variations of , what appears to have been the same 
original word. Sometimes a dozen different authorities will 
show as many changes of the same name. In relation to this 
subject, J. Fenimore Cooper, in the preface to his "Last of 
the Mohicans" says: "The great difficulty with which the 
student of Indian history has to contend, is the utter confu- 
sion that pervades the names. When, however, it is recollect- 
ed that the Dutch, the English, and the French, each took a 
conqueror's liberty in this particular; that the natives them- 



THE INDIAN TKIBES. 65 

selves not only speak different languages, but that they are 
also fond of multiplying their appelations, the difficulty is 
more a matter of regret than of surprise." 

The customs, habits, and dispositions of the Indians of 
Long Island, were similar in general respects to those of other 
tribes on the continent, but these Indians seem to have 
always been more friendly with the white settlers, than those 
on the opposite side of the Sound were. This may be 
accounted for by the fact, that the white settlers of Long 
Island were more careful not to arouse, by acts of injustice 
and oppression, the savage spirit of retaliation and hatred. 
The only occasion that we notice, where the government 
attempts to interfere with the religious exercises, or super- 
stitious notions of the natives, was in 1665, when among the 
Duke's laws it was enacted, ' ' that no Indian should be suffer- 
ed to pawaw, or perform worship to the devil, in any town 
within the government. " 

The shells of which they made their wampum, were found 
in plentiful quantities on these shores, and for a while, this 
wampum was* used by the English and Dutch settlers as a 
circulating medium, at a fixed valuation. This substitute fry 
money was made of little pieces of shells, with holes punched 
through them, by which they were run on a string. In this 
shape, they were frequently reckoned by the fathom. Shells 
of different colors were used — some white and some black. 
The latter were considered of double the value of the former. 
Custom at one time prescribed three black beads, or six white 
ones, as equivalent to a penny. Whenever an important 
treaty was made between two different tribes, belts of wam- 
pum were exchanged as witnesses to the agreement. 



66 THE INDIAN TEIBES. 

The Indians were in the habit of training np young wolves, 
which they used for dogs, and these were frequently very 
troublesome to the white settlers, often destroying their cat- 
tle which were turned upon the open plains, so that it was 
necessary to employ herdsmen to watch them. The wolves 
though partially tame, retained their ferocious nature. 

The Long Island Indians were, with few exceptions, 
friendly to the whites. This was doubtless because the 
whites were friendly to them. Individuals, or small parties 
of Indians, were occasionally troublesome, but no general 
combination was formed against the settlers. The towns had 
frequent occasion to keep a close watch of their movements, 
and suspicions of danger from them were often aroused. 
Only one instance, however, of warlike engagement between 
the Indians and the whites occurred, and in that the latter 
appear to have been the aggressors. No attempt was made to 
force them from their land, but in all cases it was purchased 
of them, for considerations which seem to have been fair and 
satisfactory. Precautions were taken, by most of the towns, 
to prevent as much as possible the Indians obtaining guns 
and ammunition. Laws were passed forbidding the sale of 
those articles to them. Strict measures were also "taken to 
prevent the feeding of savage fire with alcoholic stimulants. 
The sale of rum to the Indians was restricted by heavy fines. 
Besides the regulations of some of the towns in these matters, 
the governors under both the Dutch and the English rule, at 
different times issued orders to the same effect. The Indians 
appear to have submitted at all times without resistance, to 
any reasonable demands made of them by the white settlers. 
In 164:4:, the chiefs of those tribes who occupied the east 



THE INDIAN TRIBES. 67 

end of the island, placed themselves under the control of the 
Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England, for 
counsel and protection. To what extent they were submissive 
to the Commissioners, does not appear definite. 

About the year 1653, much unpleasant feeling existed 
between the English and the Dutch representatives in Ameri- 
ca. This state of things was augmented, if not caused by 
the war then going on between these nations at home. In the 
spring of the year mentioned, the English settlers suspected 
on the evidence that appeared to them, that the Dutch 
authorities intended to drive them out from the territory, 
.which they, the Dutch, claimed. This disputed territory 
included the whole of Long Island. 

From the " signs of the times," the English imagined, with 
considerable show of reason, that the Dutch were trying to 
enlist the prejudice and hostility of the Indians against them. 
Some of the chiefs on* the western part of the island informed 
the English, that they had been offered implements and 
munitions of war, by the Dutch officers, if they would use 
them in destroying the English settlers. Some of them had 
avowed rebellion against the authority of their Grand 
Sachem, and began to assume unfriendly attitudes toward 
their English neighbors. In consequence of these, and many 
other indications of an approaching outburst of the savage 
element, and impending hostilities of the Dutch, the people 
were thrown into a panic of fear and excitement. They ap- 
pealed to the Commissioners of the United Colonies for pro- 
tection, and placed themselves in the best possible position 
for defence. Strict watch was kept up in some of the towns, 
night and day. Every male inhabitant capable of military 



68 THE INDIAN TKIBES. 

duty, was required to provide himself with arms and ammu- 
nition, and not to go beyond the limits of the town, but to 
remain where he could hear an alarm at any time, on hearing 
which alarm, he should repair at once to a designated rendez- 
vous, ready for action. Some of the towns forbade Indians 
coming to their villages, and resolved not to sell them any 
corn, while the cloud of war was overhanging. 

The culmination of this reign of terror, was a regular 
engagement between a company of English militia, mostly 
from Bhode Island, and a greater part of the Marsapeague 
tribe of Indians. The circumstances and details of this 
affray, are enveloped in obscurity and doubt. The few items 
that are preserved in the histories, are mainly conjectures, 
which frequently show considerable discrepancies between 
the calculations of different authors, and are therefore 
scarcely reliable. 

We shall strike not far from the truth, however, in stating, 
that during the latter part of the year 1653, a party of Marsa- 
peague Indians, together with a few from some other 
neighboring tribes, had assembled together within an 
entrenchment, on the south side of Oysterbay town, being 
within the territory occupied by the Marsapeague Indians, at 
a place called Fort Neck, from the circumstance that this 
fortification was located there. The manceuvering of these 
Indians spoke of warlike intentions, and whether the suspi- 
cions of the whites were well founded or not, it seems an 
attack was made upon them by the militia under command of 
Capt. John Underbill. A number of the Indians were killed 
and the remainder scattered. 

This is the only engagement of arms resorted to by the 



THE INDIAN TEIBE3 69 

Long Island Indians against the whites, that appears in his- 
tory or tradition. Whether Capt. Underhill acted by 
direction of the Commissioners of the United Colonies ; or 
by authority of the legislature of Ehode Island ; or by the 
request of the people of the English towns on Long Island ; 
or simply on his own judgment and responsibility, does not 
appear plain. It is not impossible that he might have had 
the authority of all these. 

During the sanguinary -times of " King Philip's " war, it 
was feared that the Narragansetts might induce the Montauks 
to join them, in their war upon the whites in Connecticut. 
A precautionary measure was taken, to prevent the possibility 
of such a scheme being carried into effect, if ever considered. 
This was an order from the governor, (Andros,) issued in 
December 1675, requiring all the canoes on the island, east of 
Hell Gate, to be taken charge of by the constables, and all 
others seen in the Sound after that time to be destroyed. 

In the year 1658, Prime records, " a most terrible disease 
invaded the Indians, through the whole extent of the island ; 
and it was supposed that in the course of that year and the 
next succeeding, nearly two-thirds of their number were 
swept into the grave." What this disease which wrought 
such dire havoc among them was, we have been unable to 
learn. 

Thus, by pestilence added to war, and the vices introduced 
among them by the white man, these aboriginal inhabitants 
of the island, have been gradually diminishing in numbers, 
until.at the present time they have scarcely a representative 
left among us. 

Some attempts appear to have been made at an early day, 



70 THE INDIAN TRIBES. 

to instruct (lie Long Island Indians in the arts of civilization, 
and the principles of the Christian religion. The Eev. 
Abraham Pierson, first minister of Southampton, it is sup- 
posed devoted some attention to the matter during his stay at 
that place. In 1662 the "Society for Propagating the Gospel 
in New England," paid to Eev. Thomas James of East Hamp- 
ton £20, for his services among the Indians. In 1741, Mr. 
Azariah Horton was employed by the same society, as a 
missionary to the Indians, and quite a reformation was insti- 
tuted among them under his instructions. Within two or 
three years some 80 adults and children were baptized. The 
mission, however, was maintained only about twelve years. 
In 1755, Sampson Occum, a native of the Mohegan tribe, in 
Connecticut, was engaged as a teacher, and afterward as a 
religious instructor, until 1761. He appears to have been a 
man of extraordinary brilliancy of talent, and zeal. In 
Europe where he afterwards went, his preaching attracted 
much attention. To him is ascribed the authorship of that 
familiar hymn, — 

" Awak'd by Sinai's awful sound ;" 
though it has probably been somewhat reconstructed since it 
came from his pen. At a very early period Bev. Mr. 
Leverich, one of the first settlers of Oysterbay and Hunting- 
ton, devoted some time to the religious instruction of the 
Indians in that vicinity. Somewhere about the middle of the 
last century Eev. Peter John, a native of the Shinnecock 
tiibe, labored, among his brethren, and was instrumental 
in establishing churches at Wading Eiver, Poosepatuck, and 
Islip. Before his labors ceased he was followed by his grand- 
son, the Eev. Paul Cuffee, who entered the missionary field 



EARLY CUSTOMS. 71 

about the year 1790, These first efforts to educate and 
enlighten the Indians of the island, it will be seen wero 
directed more especially to those of the east end. We believe 
it is an established fact, and if so it is worthy of notice, that 
the tribes thus favored and cared for, were always more docile 
and friendly with the whites, and have survived others in 
their national and individual existence. 

The island, at the time of its discovery, was to a great 
extent bare of trees. The cause of this is found in the cus- 
tom which prevailed among the Indians, of burning off large 
tracts of land every year, for the purpose of inducing the 
growth of herbage and grass, which furnished subsistence for 
deer and other animals which they wished to hunt. There 
were, no doubt, large patches of forest trees here and there, 
and occasional brambles of wild vines and briars. The 
forests are said to have been clear of underbrush. 

The land was thus already cleared and the settlers had only 
to put up their fences, and dig up the soil, and put in the 
seed. They generally enclosed their land for cultivation in a 
large common field, belonging to the settlers of the town in 
undivided shares. Another field" was enclosed in the same 
way for pasturing whatever stock they did not wish to turn 
out at large. On the open plain all extra stock, more than 
they wanted for immediate or daily use, was turned at large, 
and each town employed herdsmen to watch their flocks and 
guard them from straying beyond the proper limits, or being- 
stolen or injured by marauding Indians or ferocious wild 
animals. 

When the island was first settled, the cutting of timber for 
manufacture into pipe-staves appears to have been common. 



72 EAKLY CUSTOMS. 

This, in addition to the burning process which had been prac- 
ticed by the Indians, soon caused such a scarcity of forest 
growth, that during the first twenty years of the settlement, 
the towns at different times considered it necessary to pass 
orders regulating or prohibiting the removal of timber from 
the stump. At the same time, underbrush began to spring 
up so fast that the pasturage was greatly damaged. In Octo- 
ber, 1672, the governor and Court of Assize directed the towns 
to call out all their male inhabitants between the ages of 16 
and 60, four days every year, to cut out this offensive under- 
growth. 

At the first settlement of the island but little money was 
circulated. All bargains were made in produce. The prices 
of wheat, corn, oats, butter and so forth, were evidently not 
so fluctuating in those days as at the present time. The 
salaries of ministers and schoolmasters were paid in produce, 
at specified prices. All transactions between the settlers 
were made in produce, even to the collection of taxes, fines, 
and the satisfaction of executions. The following list will 
give some idea of the average valuation of produce, during 
the middle and latter part of the seventeenth century, when 
this custom was in vogue. 



Pork, ... 3 pence 


a pound. 


Beef, 2 


<< 


«« 


Tallow, - ... 6 


a 


tt 


Butter, ... - 6 


tt 


<? 


Dry Hides, - - - 4 


a 


a 


Green Hides, - - 2 


tt 


(i 


Lard, .... 6 


tt 


tt 


Winter Wheat, - - 4 to 5 shillings a bushel. 


ISumuier do. • - 3s. 


6d. a 


bushel. 



EABLY CUSTOMS. 73 

Rye, 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. bushel. 

Indian Corn, - - 2s. 3d. to 2s. 6d. bushel. 

Oats, - - - - 2s. bushel. 

"Whale Oil, - - - £1 10s. a barrel. 
The legal valuation of stock in 1665 was as follows. 
Colts, 1 to 2 years old, - £3 each 

" 2 to 3 " " - - - - 4 

" 3 to 4 " " - - - - 8 

Horses, 4 years old and upwards, - 12 

Bullocks, 4 years old and upwards, 6 

Bulls, 4 years old and upwards, - 6 

Cows, 4 years old and upwards, 5 

Steers and Heifers, 1 to 2 years old, £1 10s. 

2 to 3 " " 2 10s. 

3 to 4 " " 4 
Goats, one year old, - 8s. 
Sheep, " " - - - 6s. 8d. 
Hogs, " " - - - £1 

Other things were valued something like this: — 
Board, 5 shillings a week. 
Meals, 6 pence each. 
Lodging, 2 pence a night. 
Beer, 2 pence a mug. 
Pasture, 1 shilling a day and night. 
Labor, 2 shillings 6 pence a day. 



CHAPTER V. 



GENEEaL DESCRIPTION OF LONG ISLAND — ITS SOIL, CLIMATE AND 
EESOUECES — ITS INDUSTRIAL ENTEEPEISES — IMPEOVEMENTS 
AND IMPOETANT INSTITUTIONS. 



The average position of that small portion of the Western 
Hemisphere known as Long Island, is not far different from 
41 degrees north latitude, and 4 degrees east longitude, from 
Washington. It is about one hundred and twenty miles in 
length, and from twelve to twenty miles wide. About forty 
miles of the eastern extremity is divided into two peninsulas, 
averaging from four to six miles in width, and separated from 
each other by Great and Little Peconic Bays, Shelter Island 
Sound, and Gardiner's Bay. Orient Point is the extremity 
of the northern branch, and Montauk Point the terminus of 
the southern ; the latter extending twenty miles farther east 
than the former. 

Long Island Sound, which separates the island from Con- 
necticut, on the north, extends the length of the island, from 
west to east, its greatest width being about twenty miles, 
from which it tapers off each way. The greatest width of 
the island, is at a ppint about forty miles from the west end. 
Its general shape has been likened to that of a huge fish, the 
west end of which is the head, and the peninsulas of the 
east end the flukes of its tail. 

The southern shore is protected from the Atlantic Ocean 
by a narrow sand beach, which extends its entire length, for 
most of the distance enclosing a bay, from one to three miles 



GENERAL VIEW OP LONG ISLAND. 75 

wide, between it and the island proper Outside the beach, 
at an average distance of a quarter to half a mile from it, lies 
a shoal or bar of sand, which is frequently shifted about by 
the action of the waves. At different points along the shore, 
the beach is connected with the main island, dividing the 
inside waters into distinct bays, some of which are entirely 
land-locked. A few inlets or openings through this beach, 
connect the inside bays with the ocean, and admit naviga- 
tion. 

The water in these bays is generally shoal, and the bottom 
muddy, affording favorable conditions for the propagation 
and growth of oysters, and other shell-fish, eels, fish, and the 
like, with which they abound. The business of securing and 
marketing these products affords an important, industrial and 
commercial interest, to the inhabitants of the vicinity, 
thousands of whom are dependent upon this source for their 
support. Bordering these waters are extensive salt meadows, 
producing different kinds of grasses peculiar to such situa- 
tions. 

The harbors and bays on the north side of the island, are 
generally deeper water, and better adapted to purposes of 
navigation. There, ship-building is carried on to a greater 
extent than on the south side. The inlets from the Sound 
are more frequent, and less dangerous of approach. 

The shores of Long Island abound in running streams and 
brooks, many of which are large enough to furnish consider- 
able power for driving machinery. These are mainly applied 
to running saw and grist mills, with now and then a paper 
mill, or a cotton or woolen factory. Many of the smaller 
streams have of late years been occupied and improved as 



76 



GENEKAL VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 



trout ponds, and immense numbers of these fish have thus 
been propagated at great expense, for sporting purposes. 

Lakes and ponds of fresh water are quite frequent in some 
parts. Many of these are looked upon as natural curiosities, 
from the remarkable positions which they occupy. Some are 
found on the summit of high hills, others in the bottom of 
deep valleys, surrounded by steep sand hills, others again 
resting quietly upon the bosom of sandy plains, in close 
proximity to bodies of salt water, yet elevated many feet 
above the sea level. 

Extensive deposits of peat are found in many parts of the 
island, mostly in the interior. These have attracted some 
attention, and the article is used to some extent, principally 
in composting manures for agricultural purposes. Some 
attempts have been made to utilize it for fuel. 

The north shore of the island is for the most, considerably 
elevated, and broken into rugged hills and bluffs. The rocks 
which are more abundant in this section than any other, 
though nowhere as frequent as on the hills of Connecticut, 
across the Sound, are of such irregular shapes that they are 
of little use for building purposes, or even for laying up 
stone walls for fences, though they are used to a small extent 
for that puriDose. The stones and rocks found on Long 
Island, from the huge bowlder of a hundred tons weight 
down to the smallest pebble, whether found on the sea-shore, 
below high water mark, or far inland upon the top of the 
highest hill, or in the bowels of the earth at the bottom of 
the deepest well, are almost without exception devoid of 
angles, having to all appearances been worn smooth by the 
long continued washing of water. This, together with the 



GENABAL view of long island. 77 

fact that various kinds of shells, and bones, and trunks of 
trees, have been found at distances of forty to a hundred feet 
or more below the surface of the earch, is a strong argument 
which geologists bring to support the theory, that this island 
was at some time not so far back as the creation of the world, 
thrown up from the bottom of the sea, either by some great 
shaking up of the interior earth, or by the more gradual 
action of the sea washing up the material of its bottom in a 
huge pile. 

Inexhaustible beds of clay, of a quality suitable for brick 
making, and pottery, are found in the hills of the north side, 
and on the plains of the interior. These are worked to some 
extent, but the supply of material is a hundred fold in excess 
of the present facilities for working it. 

The surface of Long Island may be set down as an average 
slope, from the elevated plains and cliffs which extend along 
the Sound shore, to the ocean and bays that wash the level 
shores of the south side. An irregular range of hills extends 
most of the length of the island, nearly through its centre, 
and south of this range the surface is comparatively smooth 
and to appearances level. Between this range and the 
rugged elevation along the north shore, the surface is fre- 
quently broken into a confusion of hills and valleys ; then 
again extensive tracts of beautiful level plain intervene 
between the ridges, which are from two to five miles apart. 
In this central ridge we find the highest elevated points on 
the island. The average elevation of the land along the 
north side, within three or four miles of the Sound, would 
be about 100 feet. The hills in the immediate vicinity would 
range much higher. The hills adjoining the Sound are 



78 GENERAL VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 

broken abruptly off, presenting on the north side a bare wall 
of earth, rising as nearly perpendicular as it could be made 
with the loose materials of which it is composed. 

The soil of Long Island like its surface presents a great 
variety. To "lump" the thing, and express as near the 
truth as it is possible to do in as few words, we will say the 
soil is a sandy loam, which on the north side is heavy, while 
through the middle and on the south side it is a grade 
lighter, and interspersed by an occasional tract of compara- 
tively sterile sand. We are aware that it is customary for a 
certain class of sages, who are fond of parading their stores 
of wisdom before the world through the medium of the New 
York Farmers' Club or the city press, to insinuate heavily or 
indulge in the plain assertion, that Long Island is a desert of 
sand, with only here and there an oasis of even tolerably fair 
soil. Such insinuations and assertions are false and con- 
temptible. They are no doubt based upon actual observa- 
tions, (?) made by occasioi d glances from the car windows 
while passing over the island by rail, in the meanwhile 
intently absorbed in the perusal of "to-day's paper." The 
only apology we need offer for venturing assertions differing 
from those promulgated by such luminaries, is that having 
improved more extended opportunities for observation of the 
nature and qualities of Long Island soil, a reverential regard 
for the truth stimulates us to do so. 

In support of the claim that Long Island is not, as many 
suppose it to be, a barren tract of unproductive waste, incapa- 
ble of profitable cultivation, we might, if necessary, bring a 
cloud of witnesses — men whose words carry power and influ- 
ence with them — but we do not consider that the necessity 



GENERAL VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 79 

exists, and space will not permit. We however, take pleasure 
in presenting the following extract from the address of Hon. 
(now Gov.) John A. Dix, before the N. Y. State Agricultural 
Society, delivered October 7, 1859. 

' 'A most extraordinary delusion has prevailed in regard to 
the productiveness of the central portion of this district 
[Long Island] — a delusion natural enough with those who only 
know it by description; for one of the historians of the Island 
pronounced it 'a vast barren plain' with a soil 'so thin and 
gravelly that it cannot be cultivated by any known process.' 
And yet the surface soil of this whole region, with some in- 
considerable exceptions, consists of a rich loam, from twenty 
to thirty inches in depth, easily cultivated, and made highly 
productive without immoderate manuring. Some of the best 
farms in the southern part of the State have, during the last 
five years, been made in this condemned region; and it is 
shown by the agricultural survey of the State that the Island 
produces fourteen bushels of wheat to the acre, considerably 
beyond the average of the State, and very little less than that 
of the western district. In a few places the gravel, with 
which the surface soil is underlaid, crops out, but these locali- 
ties are believed not to exceed two per cent, of the whole 
island. I have been in the habit of visiting it in summer 
for twenty-five years, and have had the best opportunity of 
noting its productiveness. There are farms which have been 
two centuries under cultivation, and which, by good manage- 
ment, continue to yield abundant crops. Fields of corn, and 
of the most luxuriant grasses, run down to the very sand hills 
which the ocean throws up, as it were, to bound its own 
encroachments. Here too, as on mountains of granitic rock, 
nature is busy with her ceaseless transformations. The sand 
hills are no sooner thrown up by the sea than they begin to 
perform their office as a part of the solid earth by ministering 
to the sustenance of its inhabitants. * * * " 

" Of all the districts of the State, this has the finest summer 
climate, and the winters are mitigated and made temperate by 
the surrounding waters. Closer observation and experiment 
have dissipated misapprehension in regard to its fertility; 
they have shown that its soil is warm, genial and productive; 
and there is little hazard in predicting that it will, at no 
distant time, become the garden of the city of New York." 

The land along the south side is usually kept in a better 



80 GENERAL VIEW OP LONG ISLAND. 

state of productiveness than that in the interior. This is 
owing to the greater convenience enjoyed by the cultivators 
there, for obtaining the fertilizing products of the adjoining 
bays and creeks. These products are fish, mussels, oyster- 
shells, sea-weed, eel-grass, rneadow-muck, drift, and the like, 
which are used to good advantage on the farming lands of the 
vicinity. They are valuable manures and easily obtained, but 
their bulkiness forbids their being hauled many miles with 
profit. Fish, of that species known by the different names 
menhaden, white fish, shad, bunkers, bony fish, &c, are 
considered the most valuable of these manures. They are 
taken in large quantities in the bays and ocean, by companies 
of men and fleets of vessels armed with large nets. During 
late years a business of considerable importance has sprung 
up in the manufacture of oil from these fish, the refuse matter 
being used as a fertilizer. 

In extracting the oil, the fish are first put into huge cal- 
drons, where they are steamed over a great brick furnace 
After this they are turned into strong boxes made of heavy 
planks with openings for the juice to escape, and placed 
under powerful presses which squeeze out the oil. A great 
number of these factories have been established on the shores 
of the bays along the south side and about the east end of the 
island. The mania for "oil" in this direction has raged to 
such an extent that the former lucrativeness of the business 
is impaired, and its dimensions on the decrease. The "scrap" 
or refuse of the fish, after the oil has been forced out is in 
convenient shape to be applied to the soil, and it is claimed 
by many that it contains all the fertilizing elements of the 
original fish. This has been sold during the past ten years at 



GENERAL VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 81 

prices ranging from twelve to twenty-five dollars a ton, at the 
factories, in bulk. 

The agricultural products of Long Island include a great 
variety. In the eastern and central portions grass and grain 
raising receives most attention. The western part which lies 
in convenient proximity to New York and Brooklyn markets, 
is devoted mainly to the raising of root crops and market 
garden produce. In Queens county and the western part of 
Suffolk, considerable quantities of milk are produced and sent 
daily to the New York market by special trains run for the 
accommodation of the business. Corn, wheat, hay, potatoes, 
and dressed hogs are shipped in considerable quantities from 
the east end. 

Some attention is paid to the cultivation of small fruits, 
principally strawberries, blackberries and cranberries. All 
these are found growing spontaneous in some parts. In the 
central part of the island and its vicinity, blackberries grow 
wild in great profusion. A few years since, the gathering 
and marketing of these berries was a business of some 
importance, which during the picking season engaged the 
attention of a greater part of the agricultural inhabitants. 
The growth and productiveness of the briars is greatly aug- 
mented by an occasional plowing of the ground, immediately 
after which, in many instances, the crop of berries produced 
without further cultivation or care, will return much better 
profits than any ordinary field crop with all its necessary labor 
and expense. The supply of cultivated and improved 
varieties, which has since been thrown upon the markets of 
New York and other cities, has nearly silenced the demand 
for the wild fruit of Long Island. 



82 GENEEAL VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 

Apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, currants, raspber- 
vies, and grapes, are cultivated to some extent. Several 
extensive miseries and seed gardens are among the important 
enterprises of the island. The atmosphere in the immediate 
vicinity of the ocean is less favorable to the healthy and 
vigorous growth, and the productiveness of fruit trees, than 
that of the interior and north side. 

The Climate of the island is subject to frequent and sudden 
changes of temperature, but is generally more mild than that 
of other localities in the same latitude further away from the 
sea shore. The mercury varies during the year, between 90 
degrees and zero,, very seldom passing these extremes. The 
prevailing winds of winter are from the north or north-west. 
In summer the south side receives a breeze from the ocean 
nearly every day, and throughout the island south-west winds 
prevail, though man/ times the interior and northern parts 
may be receiving wind from a different quarter at the same 
time a sea-breeze fans the south side. 

The principal forest trees of Long Island are the oak, 
pitch-pine, hickory, maple, chestnut, and cedar. Of these, 
the oak and hickory are found chiefly on the loamy or clay 
bottom soils, the pine on the sandy plains, the chestnut on 
the elevated northern parts, the maple in swampy localities, 
and the cedar here and there on the cliffs and sea shores, as 
well as on the sandy plains of the interior. The pine plains 
are covered with a thick under growth of snagged bushes 
familiarly known as scrub oaks or grubs. These have the 
appearance of the oak family, but seldom attain a greater 
height than four to eiglit feet. In some localities the ground 
is covered with an evergr- en trailing plant called "deer feed," 



GENERAL VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 83 

which grows in such a mass as to form a complete carpeting 
for the ' ' nakedness of the land. " 

Here and there, especially on the south side, extensive 
patches of wintergreen plants are found. In some seasons 
the crop of berries produced by them is so large, that a great 
many people, mostly women and children, find profitable 
employment in gathering them for market. At such times 
wagon loads of them are collected and shipped to market by 
amateur speculators. 

Huckleberries in the oak forests, blue-berries in the pines, 
bill-berries in the swamps, and beach-plums on the sand, are 
also among the wild fruits of Long Island, which grow in 
spontaneous abundance. 

A very important industrial enterprise, especially of Suffolk 
county, is the cutting and transporting to market of cord- 
wood, from the extensive oak and pine forests which occupy a 
great portion of this region. This business gives employment 
through the winter months, to a large number of the inhabit- 
ants, and is to some a regular business through all seasons of 
the year. A great many vessels, mostly of small size, are 
constantly engaged in transporting wood from the harbors 
and bays on both sides of the island, as well as from landings 
along the Sound shore, to New York and other places. 

May 9th, 1862, a very destructive fire originated in the town 
of Smithtown. aiid swept over a large part of the timber land 
of that town, and through Brookhaven into the towns of 
Southampton and Riverhead. This fire charred the standing 
timber so that it was unfit for cordwood, and to make their 
losses good as possible, the owners of the black wood resorted 
to the experiment of converting it into charcoal. This 



84 GENERAL VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 

proved to many, unexperienced in the business, an unprofit- 
able speculation which was soon abandoned. 

The conflagration of 1862, though perhaps of greater mag 
nitude and more destructive in its effect than any other which 
has ever swept over any part of the forests of the island, was 
a specimen of what transpires every season in some or other 
part of the island. Oftentimes the same spot of ground will 
be burned over every year or two. These annual fires which 
usually occur in the spring time, when everything is dry, and 
just before the trees and bushes are clothed with their summer 
foliage, are most frequently originated by fire from passing 
trains on the railroads, or by the intentional act of vicious 
persons. Occasionally a "new ground" burning gets beyond 
the control of its guard, and scours over a large tract before it 
can be subdued. The timber growth on many large tracts has 
become so stunted and sickly, from the effect of these repeat- 
ed fires, that it is almost valueless, and in a fair way to become 
annihilated. 

Shipwrecks are of frequent occurrence along the ocean 
shore of Long Island. Stretching away from the entrance to 
New York Bay, as this beach does, for a distance of one hun- 
dred and twenty miles, it presents an inhospitable front to 
vessels approaching that harbor. By a slight variation from 
their course, or the influence of heavy winds blowing land- 
ward, after having weathered the storms of mid-ocean and 
arrived almost within sight of their anchorage, ship and cargo 
is often washed upon this strand, frequently resulting in a 
total loss of property, to which is sometimes added that of 
human lives. Not a year passes but more or less shipping is 
wrecked on some part of this beach. If the story of all the 



GENEKAIi VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 85 

wrecks that have been thrown upon the Long Island shore 
could be gathered into a volume, what a series of destructive 
events, of distressing circumstances, and terrible scenes that 
book would contain ! Among the most disastrous to human 
life of all such casualties that ever occurred here, was the 
wreck of the British sloop of war Sylph, in January, 1815. 
This took place near Shinnecock,and resulted in the drowning 
of one hundred and eleven of those on board, only five per- 
sons out of the entire human cargo being saved from a grave 
in the sea. 

The Bristol, an American ship, under command of Capt. 
McKown, from Liverpool, loaded with an assorted cargo, and 
passengers, went ashore in a gale, on Far Bockaway Shoals, 
Sunday, November 21st, 1836. The sea broke into the vessel 
where the passengers had secreted themselves in the hold, for 
safety, and between sixty and seventy were drowned at once. 
A part of those who escaped this were saved. Ab^ut one 
hundred persons were drowned. The passengers and crew 
numbered one hundred and sixteen. Most of the passengers 
were emigrants from Ireland. 

The American bark Mexico, Capt. Charles Winslow, simi- 
larly loaded, from Liverpool, with a crew of twelve, and one 
hundred and twelve passengers, mostly Irish emigrants, 
struck the beach near Hempstead South, on the morning of 
Tuesday, January 3d, 1837. Only eight of those on board 
were saved; one hundred and sixteen perishing with the cold, 
or being drowned. 

In order to alleviate to some extent, the sufferings of ship- 
wrecked mariners, the government has erected life saving 
stations along the beach, at a distance of four or five miles 



86 GENEBAIi VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 

apart, from one end of the island to the other. These houses 
are supplied with cordage, ropes, and hawsers, powder, balls, 
mortars, life boats, and provisions. Each "station" is in 
charge of a keeper who resides in the vicinity. By a new 
arrangement, recently instituted, the number of these stations 
has been increased, and a crew of seven men is maintained at 
each house, during the winter months, while the danger and 
frequency of disaster is greatest. By this means the effi- 
ciency of the provision is increased. 

In olden times, before the advent of railroads here, the 
mails, and the traveling public, were carried and accommodated 
by stage lines, running through the length of the island. 
There were three routes, — one along the north side, another 
on the south side, and the other through the middle. By 
authority of an act of the general assembly, passed in 1724, 
commissioners were appointed, who laid out these three roads, 
about the year 1733, and gave them the names, North, Mid- 
dle, and South, Country Eoads. These three roads are at the 
present day the principal thoroughfares of wagon travel up 
and down the island, and most of the villages and settlements 
are located on or near them. 

In the matter of railroads, Long Island at the present day 
is not behind the times. True, we have here no great 
thoroughfare opening into an expanseless region beyond, yet 
we think no suburb of New York or other great city, contain- 
ing the same number of inhabitants scattered over a like 
extent of territory, is better served by railroad facilities sup- 
ported merely by local patronage than Long Island. 

The first of these enterprises was the Brooklyn Central and 
Jamaica railroad. This was opened for travel April 18th, 



GENERAL VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 87 

1836. Tlie weatstn terminus was South Ferry, Brooklyn, and 
the distance from that point to Jamaica eleven miles. 
The Long Island Eailroad Company commenced the extension 
of this road from Jamaica eastward in 1836. In August of 
the following year the road was completed and put in opera- 
tion as far as Hicksville, 26 miles. In 1841 the extension 
reached Suffolk Station. In the summer of 1844 the road was 
completed to Greenport, its final terminus, and the first train 
of cars passed over it on the 25th of July, of that year. The 
length of this road, from Brooklyn to Greenport is ninety-five 
miles. This is the longest and principal road on the island. 
In 1860 a branch was constructed from Jamaica to Hunter's 
Point, and the main western terminus and depot of the road 
established at that place. 

A branch from the Long Island Eailroad at Hicksville was 
opened to Syosset, four miles distant, July 3, 1854. It was 
intended to extend it to Cold Spring Harbor, four and a half 
miles further, but after the road had been graded to that 
point it was abandoned. From Syosset it was continued to 
Northport, and put in operation as far as that point in April, 
1868. From Northport the road was extended by the Smith- 
town & Port Jefferson Eailroad Company to Port Jefferson 
in 1872. The entire length of this branch, from Hicksville 
to Port Jefferson, is thirty-three miles. 

Branches have also been constructed from Mineola to 
Hempstead on the south, two and a half miles, and to Locust 
Valley on the north, a distance of ten miles. Another branch 
has lately been opened from near Jamaica to the sea-side at 
Far Bockaway, about ten miles. 

The Sag Harbor Branch, diverging from the main line at 



88 GENERAL VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 

Manor Station, was built in 1869. It passes down through 
"the Hamptons," terminating at Sag Harbor, and covers a 
distance of thirty-five miles. 

The Flushing Kailroad, extending from Hunter's Point to 
Flushing, a distance of eight miles, was opened June 26th, 
1854. It has since been extended to Manhasset, about six 
miles further. 

The Flushing & North Shore Kailroad extends from Hunt- 
er's Point, to Whitestone on the East Eiver, a distance of 
eleven miles. 

The South Side Eailroad Company was organized in 
1860, but the war which broke out soon after prevented 
anything being done for several years. In February, 
1866, a new organization was effected, and in the following 
May actual work commenced. The road was opened from 
Jamaica to Babylon in October, 1867. In 1868 it was com- 
pleted to Patchogue, and the western terminus opened to the 
East River, Brooklyn. Its length is fifty-four miles. Its 
career has been marked by enterprising and liberal manage- 
ment, and by its aid and influence the villages along the 
South Side have made rapid strides in growth and improve- 
ment. A branch from this road has been laid from Valley 
Stream to Hempstead, five miles, and another from the same 
point to Far Rockaway, nine miles. 

The Central Railroad, A. T. Stewart's enterprise, connect- 
ing with the New York and Flushing road at Flushing, has 
been extended as far east as Farmingdale, about twenty miles. 

Thus it will be seen, Long Island has about 300 miles of 
railroad ; more than enough to put a belt round its entire 
limits, without counting any of the street car lines of Brooklyn 



GENERAL VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 89 

or other places. And yet, railroad projects too numerous to 
mention are constantly exciting gossip in all parts of the 
island, and though in this matter as in many others, there is 
always more or less "talk" without any "cider," yet as 
"straws show which way the wind blows," it is safe to pre- 
dict that a few years' time will bring much greater improve- 
ments in this direction, than a similar period of the past can 
show. Some of these projects, and many others yet untalked 
of, will ere-long be carried into effect. 

From the returns to the State Engineer we quote the fig- 
ures contained in the following table, concerning the railroads 
of Long Island. 



NAME OF ROAD. 


COST PEK 


CAPITAL 


FLOATING & 


, 


MILE. 


STOCK. 


FUNDED DEBTS. 


Long Island, 


$31,191 $3,000,000 $1,625,000.00. 


North Shore, 


48,088 


193,445 


141,000.00. 


South Side, 


51,560 


1,000,000 


2,636,781.62. 


Central, 


66,356 


223,280 


1,116,598.29. 


Flushing & North Side, 


103,044 


281,000 


1,382,227.00. 


Smithtown & Port Jefferson 


, 111,737 


196,350 


600,000.00. 


N. Y. & Kockaway, 




100,000 


250,000.00. 


Newtown & Flushing, 




8,540 


150,000.00. 



Through the instrumentality of these increased facilities for 
communication between New York and all parts of the island, 
it is asserting its legitimate claim as a proper suburb and 
tributary to the great American Metropolis. The public are 
beginning to realize and admit the weight of that claim, and 
the tide of immigration is setting hitherward. Capitalists 
and real estate dealers are giving their attention to Long 
Island lands, and improvements, to a greater extent than ever 
before. Professional men, business men, and nabobs, men 
of wealth and means, are buying and fitting up places for 
summer rustication, while other fcho ua~:ias *re "becoming per- 



90 GENEEAL VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 

nianent residents ; building up and improving the waste 
places of this beautiful "island of the sea." 

As a watering place, and a popular resort for the over- 
taxed, over-heated, and over-stimulated people of New York 
and other cities, during the heat of summer, Long Island, 
particularly the south side, is assuming a position of increas- 
ing importance. All along the south side, from Coney Island 
to Montauk, commodious hotels have been fitted up, for the 
accommodation of the thousands who flock hither during the 
summer months. New ones are being opened every season, 
but still the facilities are inadequate to the demand. Club- 
houses, villas and cottages, for the summer retreat of city 
residents and men of wealth and prominence in political, 
judicial, literary or commercial circles, are scattered all 
through the villages of the south side, and other parts of the 
island as well. 

That Long Island should become such a popular resort is 
not wonderful. It is more a wonder that it should have re- 
mained so long in comparative obscurity. But the fact that 
the Long Island Railroad, which until a few years ago 
monopolized the land travel over the island, runs most of its 
way through the least inviting and most monotonous route 
that could have been selected, affords a pretty good explana- 
tion of the mystery. It would be hard to find a more beauti- 
ful combination, or greater variety of scenery, — of valley and 
plain, hill-side and bluff, sea-shore and high-land, river and 
lake, harbor and cove, forest and clearing, meadow and wild, 
village and hamlet — within so short a distance of the great 
city than Long Island presents. Nearly all this beauty and 
variety however is hidden from the traveler as he passes over 



GENEKAL VIEW OF LONG ISLAND. 91 

the railroad, nor lias it been conveniently accessible from the 
city by way of the railroad. Pleasnrists and settlers in search 
of desirable locations have therefore passed Long Island by, 
and bestowed their patronage upon other places. The new 
railroad facilities which have been opened upon the sides of 
the island, have developed its attractions very rapidly within 
a few years past, and doubtless will continue to do so for 
many years to come. 



CHAPTER VI. 



SUFFOLK COUNTY DUBING THE REVOLUTION — THE SPIRIT OF 
REBELLION — BRITISH ARMED AUTHOBITT — EEDUCTION OF BRIT- 
ISH FOETIFICATIONS AT SAG HAEBOB, ST. GEOEGE's AND SLONGO 
— BEFUGEE DEPBEDATIONS AND PETTY SKIRMISHES. 



When the troubles which preceded the Revolution began 
to darken thick over the continent, and the iron grasp of 
English tyranny had already closed upon the port of Boston, 
the various towns and districts of this county held special 
meetings, and passed resolutions expressing their leadiness to 
take part in resisting oppression, and sympathizing with their 
neighbors of Boston. Committees were appointed in each 
town or district to represent them in conventions of the 
county, to devise measures for the welfare of the country, and 
arrange to act in unison in executing such measures. 

The "Committees of Correspondence" (as they were call- 
ed), for Suffolk county, met at Riverhead, November 15th, 
1774, and passed the following: 

"Voted, That we recommend it to the several towns in this 
county, to set forward a subscription, for the employment 
and relief of the distressed poor in the town of Boston, to be 
collected in such manner as the committees in each town shall 
judge proper; to be in readiness to be forwarded early next 
spring." 

"Voted, That John Foster have the care of procuring a ves- 
sel to call at the several harbors in this county, to receive and 
carry the above donations to Boston." 



SUFFOLK DUKING THE REVOLUTION. 93 

" Voted, That we fully approve of the proceedings of the 
late Continental Congress, and recommend it to the commit- 
tees of the different towns to see that the Association by them 
entered into on behalf of themselves and their constituents, 

be strictly observed. 

EZRA L'HOMMEDIEU, Clerk." 

February 23, 1775, the " Committees of Observation " 
representing the people of Huntington, Smithtown, Islip, 
and Southaven, with some of the principal inhabitants of 
Brookhaven, met at Smithtown, and passed resolutions ap- 
proving the course of the late Continental Congress, and 
advising the representatives of the county to join in the 
appointment of delegates to the Continental Congress which 
was to be held in Philadelphia in the month of May follow- 
ing. The assembly did not make the appointment of such 
delegates, and a provincial convention was called for the 
purpose. In this convention Suffolk county was represented 
by Col. William Floyd, Col. Nathaniel Woodhull, Col. Phineas 
Fanning, Thomas Tredwell, and John Sloss Hobart, who had 
b een appointed by a meeting of the committees of the several 
towns of the county held at Riverhead April 6th, 1775. 

During the summer of that year [1775], several British 
vessels were prowling about the east end of the island. These 
occasionally carried off stock from the j>asture fields of Mon- 
tauk. In reply to a petition from the people of South and 
East Hampton, C ongress gave permission to two companies of 
troops, which had been raised in the vicinity, to remain to 
guard the stock. On the 7th of August, thirteen sail of Brit- 
ish shipping were seen off Orient Point. To prepare for 
defense against a raid upon the stock about the east end, 



94 SUFFOLK DURING THE REVODUTION. 

Congress ordered four companies from Gen. Wooster's com- 
mand at Harlem, to go thither under Col. Phineas Fanning; 
and voted two hundred pounds of powder to the order of 
Ezra L'Hommedieu and John Foster. Notwithstanding these 
precautions it is said that about one hundred cattle and near 
three thousand sheep were taken from Fisher's and Gardiner's 
Islands. 

The militia of Suffolk numbered a little more than two 
thousand. Companies of minute men were organized and 
preparations made for the best possible defense of the county. 
January 5th, 1776, Congress sent one thousand pounds of 
powder to the Huntington committee. April of the same 
year, three companies which had been raised in the eastern 
part of the county, for the Continental service were allowed 
to remain where they were, to aid in guarding that section. 

About the 22d of July the Independence of the American 
colonies was proclaimed among the people of Suffolk, and the 
resolutions of the provincial Congress approving the action of 
the Continental Congress were read amid the enthusiastic 
demonstrations of the people. At Huntington, an effigy of 
George III, wearing a wooden crown stuck full of feathers 
was hung on a gallows, and having been partly filled with 
powder, was blown to pieces and burned. The "Union," and 
the letters "George III," were cut from the flag which had 
been swinging on the breeze from the liberty-pole, and also 
burned with the effigy before a parade of the people. 

But the patriotic enthusiasm which then seemed to per- 
vade the whole country was quickly silenced by the turn 
of affairs which gave the British full possession of the island. 
After the disastrous battle of Long Island, followed by the 



SUFFOLK DURING THE REVOLUTION. 95 

evacuation of Brooklyn by the Continental forces, the few 
companies of regular troops that were within the county 
withdrew to Connecticut, as did also the leading Whigs, and 
many others, and the militia disbanded and went to their 
homes. The committees, of the county and of the several 
towns were dissolved, and compelled to revoke their former 
actions and disclaim all allegiance to congresses and the cause 
of American Independence. Under date of August 29, Gen. 
William Erskine, who had received an appointment from 
Gen. Howe to the command of the eastern part of Long 
Island issued a proclamation to the people of Suffolk, enjoin- 
ing them to use their utmost efforts to preserve the peace of 
the county ; directing all committee men, and others acting 
under authority of the "Bebels" to cease at once all such 
action or connection ; and requiring all men in arms to lay 
them down and surrender themselves at once ; and exhorting 
all persons to aid and assist His Majesty's Forces by furnish- 
ing cattle, wagons, horses, and whatever else lay in their 
power ; and further intimating that if such requirements were 
not immediately complied with, he should march into the 
county and "lay waste the property of the disobedient." 
Levies were made upon the inhabitants for grain, forage, &c. , 
which generally required all that the farmers had to spare, 
and frequently much more, and sometimes even their whole 
supply. All such property as belonged to the open "Bebels" 
or those who had fled to them for protection, was taken with- 
out reserve. In October, a testimonial of allegiance to 
George III, at the same time petitioning that this county 
might be restored "to His Majesty's protection and peace," 
was signed by six hundred and fourteen persons, and 



96 SUFFOLK DURING THE REVOLUTION. 

addressed to Richard, Lord Viscount Howe, and General 
William Howe, the " King's Commissioners for restoring peace 
to His Majesty's Colonies in North America." 

During the war British troops were stationed in different 
parts of the county. Their numbers were increased by enlist- 
ments of Tories. A series of petty skirmishes and raids upon 
property was carried on by both parties. The inhabitants 
were plundered by Whigs, and Tories, and British troops, 
and there was no redress for the sufferers. Brute force was 
the highest law. 

We present in the following paragraphs some of the most 
important military exploits in the record of Suffolk County 
during the Revolution. 

In the early part of November, 1776, a part}' of three or 
four hundred troops crossed from New Haven to Setauket for 
the purpose of capturing a party of Tories who were stationed 
there, and to remove the effects of a gentleman whose sympa- 
thies with the American cause had compelled him to leave his 
home. The Americans encountered a detachment of newly 
enlisted troops belonging to Gen. Howe's army, under com- 
mand of one Smith, and after a sharp engagement in which 
six to ten of the British troops were killed, returned with 
twenty-three prisoners and seventy-five muskets. 

In April, 1777, the British troops had collected a large 
quantity of forage and provisions at Sag Harbor, and in order 
to destroy these, an expedition was planned by Gen. Parsons, 
which proved one of the most brilliantly successful exploits of 
the Revolution. A party of about two hundred men, under 
command of Col. Meigs left New Haven on the 21st of May to 
execute the design. Foul weather detained them at Guilford 



SUFFOLK DURING THE REVOLUTION. 97 

a day or two. On the afternoon of the 23rd the expedition 
embarked from that place, in whale-boats, under convoy of 
two armed sloops, and crossed over to the Island, landing near 
Southold at 6 o'clock in the evening. Leaving the sloops, the 
party hauled their boats across a narrow isthmus (probably 
Ashmomogue) and pulled across the Bay, landing on the 
Southampton side about three miles from Sag Harbor. Here 
they secreted their boats in the bushes and placed a guard 
over them. Marching directly to the village, where they 
arrived at two o'clock in the morning, they impressed two 
men, whom they found taking care of the sick at a hospital, 
and compelling them to act as guides proceeded at once to 
the quarters of the commanding officer, and secured him 
while lying in his bed. After carrying the outpost at the 
point of the bayonet, Col. Meigs advanced with his force to 
the shipping about the wharf. Here he was exposed to the 
fire of the enemy from an armed schooner of twelve guns and 
seventy men at a range of one hundred and fifty yards. For 
about forty-five minutes he occupied this position, without the 
loss or serious injury of a single man. During that time the 
object of the expedition was successfully carried out. Twelve 
brigs and sloops were burned, together with one hundred and 
twenty to us of hay and a quantity of corn and oats. Ten 
hogsheads of rum and a considerable quantity of merchandise 
were also destroyed. Six of the enemy were killed, and 
ninety prisoners taken. Having thus achieved a brilliant suc- 
cess, Col. MeigG returned to Guilford the same day, where he 
arrived at two o'clock in the afternoon, after an absence of but 
little more than twenty-four hours. Not a man had been lost 
during the expedition. Of so much importance was this 



98 SUFFOLK DUKING THE REVOLUTION. 

event considered, that Gen. Washington on hearing of the 
result addressed a letter of congratulation to Gen. Parsons, 
and Congress voted t 1 e presentation of a sword to Col. 
Meigs. 

In August, 1777, Setauket was one of the British outposts, 
and was occupied by two hundred and sixty men under com- 
mand of Col. Richard Hewlett. The Presbyterian church 
had been taken possession of and made a military stronghold, 
fortified by a mound of earth six feet high and five feet thick 
surrounding it at a distance of thirty feet. Pickets were set 
closely upon the top, and along the outer face of the mound, 
over the ditch. Inside the church four swivels were mounted, 
looking from the gallery windows. To break up this strong- 
hold, and capture the garrison was a very desirable object, 
and one which Gen. Parsons, stimulated perhaps by the 
encouraging result of Meigs' Expedition, undertook to accom- 
plish. In pursuance of this design he crossed the Sound 
with about one hundred and fifty men [some authorities say 
a much larger force] and landing on the Sound shore ap. 
proached the British fortification and demanded its immedi- 
ate surrender. This being refused, an attack was commenced 
with three pieces of artillery which were planted within three 
or four hundred yards of the fort. After a warm engagement 
of two or three hours' duration intelligence was received by 
Gen. Parsons that several British sh ips of war which had 
been lying at Huntington were proceeding eastward, and 
fearing that his retreat might be cut off by the capture of his 
sloop and whale-boats, the attack was abandoned and the 
Americans fled 1 3 their boats and returned to Black Rock, the 
point of their departure. Four of their number were killed 



SUFFOLK DURING THE REVOLUTION. 99 

in the engagement, and several others wounded. The British 
loss was even less than that. One of the soldiers who volun- 
teered in this expedition was Mr. Zachariah Green, who 
about twenty years later was installed minister of that church. 
In the early part of 1778 the garrison left, and the fort was 
abandoned. 

In November, 1780, one of the most daring exploits in the 
history of Suffolk during the Eevolution was planned, and 
carried into successful execution by Maj. Benjamin Tallniadge. 
This was the capture of Fort St. George, located on the south 
side of the island, at Smith's Point, Mastic. At that point a 
triangular enclosure of several acres extent had been con- 
structed, at two angles of which were strongly barricaded 
houses, and at the third a fort, ninety-six feet square, well 
protected by an abattis of sharpened pickets projecting from 
the earthen mound at an angle of about forty-five degrees. 
The fortification had but just been completed, and two guns 
were mounted. It was intended as a safe depository for 
merchandise and munitions of war. The garrison numbered 
something more than fifty men. About four o'clock in the 
afternoon of November 21st, Maj. Tallniadge with two com- 
panies of dismounted dragoons, numbering in all eighty men, 
left Fairfield, Conn., in eight open boats, and crossed the 
Sound, landing at Mt. Sinai about nine o'clock in the even- 
ing. After securing the boats in the bushes and stationing a 
guard over them the troops were set in motion to cross the 
island. They had proceeded, however, but a few miles when 
a severe rain storm came on, which compelled them to return 
and take shelter under their boats. Here they remained all 
night and the next day. About seven o'clock in the evening 



100 SUFFOLK DUKING THE KEV0LUTT0N. 

of the 22d, the ruin abated and the men again started on their 
march, arriving within two miles of the fort by three o'clock 
on the following morning. Here the troops were divided into 
three detachments, each of which proceeded by a different 
route for the purpose of making an attack upon the fort at 
different points. Maj. Tallmadge himself led the main column, 
whose approach was not discovered by the enemy until the 
pioneers were within twenty yards of the stockade. A breach 
was quickly made, and the troops rushed into and through 
the "grand parade" to the main fort, which they carried with 
the bayonet without the firing of a single musket. At the 
same instant the leaders of the other two detachments mount- 
ed the ramparts and from the three sides of the triangle a 
chorus of " Washington and Glory" was shouted by the 
elated victors. Just then a volley of musketry was discharged 
upon them from one of the barricaded houses in which a 
considerable number of the garrison were secreted. The 
attention of Tallmadge's men was immediately directed to 
that point, and for a few minutes a sharp contest ensued, 
during which the latter forced an entrance to the house and 
hurled a number of the enemy from the second story windows 
headlong to the ground. During the encounter seven of the 
enemy were killed or wounded. The fort was destroyed, fifty- 
four prisoners were taken, and a quantity of merchandise 
brought away. A vessel lying near the fort was also burned. 
Having thus accomplished the object of their visit, the Ameri- 
cans returned with their prisoners, Maj. Tallmadge at the 
same time with ten or twelve of his men going by the way of 
Coram where they set on fire a magazine of hay, estimated at 
near tl :ee hundred tons, which had been collected there by 



SUFFOLK DURING THE REVOLUTION. 101 

the British. Arriving at the landing place simultaneously 
with the main body of his detachment, all returned to Fair- 
field the same night, reaching there about midnight. None 
of Tallmadge's men were killed nor but very few injured. A 
letter of commendation was addressed by Gen. Washington to 
Maj. Tallmadge on the occasion of the successful capture of 
Fort St. George and the burning of hay at Coram. 

On the evening of October 2, 1781, Maj. Tallmadge sent a 
detachment of 150 Continental troops headed by Maj. Tres- 
cott from Saugatuck River, Conn., to destroy Fort Slongo, 
a British fortification in the northwestern part of Smithtown. 
This fort was occupied by a garrison of 140 men, well armed. 
The Continental troops crossed the Sound under cover of 
night and at daylight on the morning of the 3d successfully 
attacked the fort. After a short engagement in which four of 
the enemy were killed and two wounded, the garrison was 
subdued. The fort was destroyed, the block-house and other 
combustible materials burned, and twenty-one prisoners 
taken. One brass field piece, and seventy muskets were cap- 
tured, and two iron guns destroyed. The detachment 
returned without the loss of a man, and with but one serious- 
ly injured. 

The following items, which we copy from Onderdonk's 
"Revolutionary Incidents" will give an idea of the distressing 
con dition of affairs during those years. Several of them we 
would explain are in the language of writers of that period, 
whose sympathies were with the British. 

1 ' There are two companies of Tories stationed at Hunting- 
ton but not a man east of there ; also about ten or a dozen 
regular officers without any men. They are billeted on the 
inhabitants, all of them without pay, and have plundered, 



102 SUFFOLK DURING THE REVOLUTION. 

stole, and destroyed to such a degree, that the inhabitants 
must unavoidably starve in a little time, for want of food. 
Sundry of the principal men have been beaten in an unheard 
of manner for not complying with their unrighteous requests, 
particularly good Dr. Piatt and Mr. John Brush. The meet- 
ing-house made a store house of, no ^6^'c worship 
allowed of, and the good people assembled five miles out of 
town, at West Hills — they (British) followed them, and broke 
up their assembling together any more. Game, Feb. 17, 
1777." 

" One night, week before last, a party of rebels came over 
from Connecticut to the house of Solomon Smith, of Smith- 
town, and robbed him of all the clothing of his family and 
some household furniture. On their return the boat overset, 
and 'tis supposed the whole party perished, as the boat and 
some dead bodies were found on the shore near Mr. Smith's 
within a day or two afterwards. Gaine, April 7, 1777." 

" New London, Bee. 19. A plan having been formed to 
bring off or destroy a magazine of military stores which the 
enemy had at Setauket, on Long Island, and to destroy some 
shipping loaded with timber at Southold, on Tuesday night 
of last week, part of two battalions of troops embarked from 
this State, under convoy of the sloop Schuyler, and Spy and 
Mifflin, schooners. Unfortunately next morning, just be- 
fore light, the Falkland, a British Frigate, in her passage 
from New York to Newport, came across the Schuyler and 
two smaller vessels, when the latter run ashore on the Island, 
but the former in attempting to get in with the land, run on 
a spit of sand (called Old Man's) and was taken with about 
60 troops on board, among them Cols. Ely, and Samuel B. 
Webb, &c. On Thursday, a party of men under Capt. Hart, 
marched to Southold and were very near making prisoners of 
Capt. Ayscough and upwards of twenty men belonging to the 
ship Swan, who were in a house in Southold, but they get- 
ting intelligence of Capt. Hart's approach hasted to their 
boats. They were closely pursued, and as they were getting 
on board, were fired upon, when most of them were killed or 
wounded : seven marines and seamen were made prisoners. 
Our troops after tarrying several days on L. I. , returned to 
the Main, without opportunity to effect anything considera- 
ble — the shipping having left Southold, and we learn the 
magazine at Setauket has been removed. Dec. 24, '77. Con. 
Gaz." 

"New London, Jan. 2, 78. 130 tories from the west end 



SUFFOLK DURING THE REVOLUTION. 103 

of Long Island, commanded by Col. Hewlett came down to 
Southold, Oyster Pond, &c, and robbed the honest inhabi- 
tants to a large amount in clothing, money, grain, cattle, &c. 
From one man they took £120 in cash." 

''Feb. 16, '78, Gaine. About two o'clock last Thursday 
morning, a party of 12 rebels seized at Coram, two wagons 
loaded with dry goods, the property of Oba Wright of South- 
ampton. These marauders had been several days on the 
Island, visited most parts of the County and committed many 
robberies, especially at the house of Col. Floyd, which 
they robbed of goods and cash, to a considerable amount, 
and took thence some property of Mr. Dunbar, who rides 
down the Island occasionally and happened to lodge in the 
house that night." 

"FishMU, Mar. 5, 78. On Wednesday night a party of 30 
volunteers, from Col. Meigs' Eeg. , in four whaleboats under 
command of Maj. Humphrey's Lts. Lay and Burret, made a 
descent on L. L in the neighborhood of Sniithtown, for the 
purpose of destroying several of the enemy's shipping, par- 
ticularly a large ship of 20 guns aground near that place. 
The ship was unfortunately got off the preceding day, but 
they set fire to and destroyed a brig, of 200 tons burthen, a 
a large schooner and an armed sloop, all employed in the en- 
emy's service. They brought off two captains and several 
seamen, together with as many sails, rigging, and furniture, 
as the boats could contain : all effected without loss, and the 
party returned to the Main, next morning. The enterprise 
was well planned and conducted, and such a one as in Gaine 
and Bivington's papers would have filled a column with " im- 
menses" and "infinites," and exhausted Johnson's Dictionary 
of all those terms which express enterprise, conduct, and res- 
olution. Con. Gaz. March 11, '78. 

"New London, Mar. 8, '78. Last Sabbath 21 sail of the 
enemy's shipping, which have lain for some weeks in Gardi- 
ner's Bay, taking in wood, came to sail, and stood eastward." 

' ' Riv. , May 16, '78. The rebels have constant information by 
signals from many disloyal Islanders residing between Hunt- 
ington and Setauket of every vessel passing up the sound, 
as well as of the situation of persons and things in several 
parts of Long Island ; and they also convey all the informa- 
tion their emissaries daily procure of the several occurrences 
in N. Y. city. " 

' 'Riv. May 20, 78. Sunday night, 10th inst. , 2 whale boats, 
7 men in each, came to Blue Point, and took thence 5 boats 



HM 



i umi no? 



lying there with oysters, owned i\\ Tho'a Myng, ^.raoaUnd 

lull. John K:i|vil|o. S.itn'l I'oIm . ami Mr CiUllOroil This. 

p.irix was commanded by one Dayton from Coram, and wore 
m11 well armed They brought their boats from the north 
side >>t' the [sland, and Bent their pri ea to Now London, 
They | > 1 1 1 some women :i 1 1 v I children, and Tho's Myug 

fcsho] 

"The head of the Banditti who captured R vessels loaded 
with lumber and prodneo for the market of N v . w« Abe- 
ii,' or Dayton, a noted pedler, who lately lived al Coram. 
Next in command waa Win, Clark, formerly n rebel l.t.. who 
had taken the benefit of Howe's Proclamation; and after 
■■•; the oaths to Government, he kept n shop near B. 
iron, [Setauket] where, by making private lotteries, &o,, 
he converted his effects into cash, ami about tour or five 
weeks ago eloped to Connecticut, This party (fourteen in 
number) ore a speoies of plunderers distinct from rebel 
troop* 

;. 78 Got Tryon has marched down the 
[sland, and is now at Setauket with 1/200 men. Ho orders 
the farmers to thresh out the grain immediately. The stock 
on Long [aland, it is expeoted, will bo taken lor the ding's 

On Tuesday se'night, a party of Reb- 
els who had crossed over from Connecticut, having concealed 
themselves in a wood below Huntington, Ihvd upon three 
light dragoons, returning from the east end of the Island, and 
killed one of them on the spot ; the other two, with the 
horses, got off unhurt. A party was immediately dispatched 
from Huntington in quest y"\ these assassins: but they escaped 
to their brethren on the other side of the Sound.* 1 

•• \ i S 18, *78 Major Ebeneser Gray, with 

b party oi Col. Meigs' Regiment wont to Huntington on 
Long [aland, mid brought off L6 priaoners, disaffected! 
(who had gone over bo the enemy from this state.) Three 
others were killed, and two made their escape. " 

•• Last Dueaday afternoon 3 men in a small achooner, with 
Ft swivels and a cohorn, was attacked by - whale-boats with 
it ten men in each, at Fire Place. The boats went up 
with full resolution to board the schooner, and when within 
about 20 yards they received such a dose from the cohorn, as 
obliged thom to sheer off, when most of their oars were seen 
to drop bj the people on shore who were spectators of the 
action, which was well fought on both sides; but the boats 



- 

■ ■ 

- 

- 

■ 

( nd. — 

! 

: . 

-- 

. . . 

Bef - 

. t iailitii. 
I 



106 SUFFOLK DURING THE REVOLUTION. 

3 miles east of Brookhaven. The well-known Eben. Dayton 
was at the head of this party, 2 sons of Israel Conklin, of 
Huntington South, Stephen Woodhull of Brookhaven, the 
noted Isaac Smith, of Coram, (commonly called Petticoat 
Isaac,) and one of his sons: the two latter joined the rebels 
about 3 months ago. Mr. Petticoat Isaac has been remarka- 
bly industrious in harboring and supplying the rebels with 
provisions and intelligence." 

' ' Last Friday night a party of Rebels surrounded the house 
of Dr. Punderson, of Setauket, took him prisoner and carried 
him to Connecticut. In that night the same party took Wm. 
Jayne, Jr. The rebels told Mrs. P. they had taken the Doctor 
to exchange for John Smith, and Mr. Jayne for Wm. Phillips, 
who were seized at Smithtown, at Widow Blyenbury's, on 
a trading expedition. — Gaine, July 17, '80." 

Here we find a "notice to quit," which is likely to convey 
the suggestions of the writer as forcibly as though shrouded 
in any amount of legal verbosity. No name appears attached 
to it. 

Head Quarters, Aug. 25, 1780." 

"I have repeatedly ordered you, especially Apr. 15, to 
leave my farm. This is the last invitation. If you do not, 
your next landfall will be in a warmer climate than any you 
ever lived in yet. 20 days you have to make your escape. — 
Riv., Oct. 21, '80." 

"New London, Sept. 20, '82. Last week, two armed boats 
from Connecticut River crossed the Sound and landed at Ca- 
noe Place. The people going a mile or two on the Island met 
a man with a box of tea, and took it from him. They 
afterwards plundered sundry of the - inhabitants of cash 
and clothing. The next morning a number of people 
belonging to the Island assembled, and finding the boat's 
crews on a beach, dividing their goods, they fired on them, 
killed one on the spot, mortally wounded another, who died 
soon after, and badly wounded two others. They have de- 
tained five of the boat's crews." 

We have not space here to extend these quotations further. 
What we have given will serve as examples of the depreda- 
tions which w« re constantly being committed upon the inhab- 
itants or their property, and the frequent skirmishes between 
the opposing ljrces. Plundered by those who claimed to be 



SUFFOLK DURING THE REVOLUTION. 107 

friends to the American cause, as well as by their armed ene- 
mies, the people of Suffolk County were placed in a position 
of continual fear and their property in constant jeopardy. 

On the return of peace, the State Legislature in 17{l4 im- 
posed a tax of £10,000 on Suffolk County as a compensation 
to other parts of the State for not having been able to take an 
active part in supporting the war. The many Whigs who 
had left home and property at the commencement of the war 
returned home to find their houses and barns divested of 
everything valuable, and in many instances wholly or partial- 
ly torn down, their fences destroyed, farms out of order, 
wood growth cut off, and every thing in that disordered and 
dilapidated condition which might naturally be expected as 
the result of seven years occupancy by a lawless military 
force, and the frequent invasions of adventurers for plunder. 
The real estate of a few individuals who were the most prom- 
inent in opposing and betraying the American cause, was con- 
fiscated and sold. 

During the revolutionary period Suffolk County was repre- 
sented in the Continental congresses by the following gentle- 
men. 

William Floyd, 1774 to 1782. 

Ezra L'Hommedieu, 1779 to 1783. 

Zephaniah Piatt, 1785. 

Representatives of this county in the convention which met 
at Poughkeepsie, June 17, 1788, and adopted the Constitution 
of the United States. 

Henry Scudder, Jonathan N. Havens, 

John Smith, Thomas Tredwell, 

David Hedges. 



108 SUFFOLK DUEING THE EE VOLUTION. 

To the Provincial Congress of New York the following rep- 
resentatives of Suffolk County were elected. 

To the first congress, which met May 22, 1775 — Nathaniel 
Woodhull, John Sloss Hobart, Thomas Tredwell, John Fos- 
ter, Ezra L'Hoimnedieu, Thomas Wickham, James Havens, 
and Selah Strong. 

To the second congress, which met Dec. 6, 1775 — John 
Sloss Hobart, Thomas Tredwell, Selah Strong, Nathaniel 
Woodhull, Ezra L'Hommedieu, David Gelston, Thomas 
Wickham, and Daniel Brown. 

The same were elected to the third congress which met in 
May, 1776. 

To the fourth congress, which met July 9th, 1776— Nathan- 
iel Woodhull, Ezra L'Hommedieu, John Sloss Hobart, Bur- 
net Miller, Thomas Dering, David Gelston, William Smith 
and Thomas Tredwell. These were authorized by their con- 
stituents to "establish a new form of government," which 
that congress immediately set about doing, and completed the 
following year, in the organization of the State Government. 



CHAPTER VII. 



SUFFOLK COUNTY — DESCRIPTION — MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS — HIS- 
TORICAL EELICS — INSTITUTIONS — STATISTICS &C. 



Suffolk county occupies about two thirds of the whole 
territory of Long Island. Its western boundary is the east 
line of Queens county. On the north and east it is washed 
by the Sound, and its tributary bays and harbors, and the 
Atlantic Ocean, which also washes the south shore. It con- 
tains four hundred and twenty-four thousand, three hundred 
and eighty-eight acres, about two fifths of which is under 
cultivation. The east end is divided by several large bays, 
which contain a number of islands. The Great South Bay, 
and East Bay extend along the south side, half the length of 
the county, from the west end. These bays in connection 
with South Oyster and Hemstead Bays at the west end, form 
a continous opening inside the beach, from Rockaway to 
Ketchaboneck, a distance of sixty miles. The entire length 
of the county, from east to west, is about ninety miles, and 
its greatest width, which is at the west end, about twenty 
miles. 

The courts of this county, first established in 1683, were 
held at Southold, until the year 1729, when, a courthouse 
having been erected at Riverhead, the courts were removed 
to that place, where they have been held ever since. 

Negro slavery existed from an early colonial oeriod. and 
was sanctioned by statute under the State Government. 



110 SUFFOLK COUNTY. 

During tha Revolution a law was. passed by which slaves 
enlisting in the army, with the consent of their owners should 
become free. In 1798, a law was passed for the gradual 
emancipation of slaves, and on the 31st of March, 1817, it was 
enacted that slaves born after July 4th, 1799, should be free ; 
if male at the age of 28 ; or if female at the age of 25. 
Those born before that period were to remain slaves for life. 
''Jlie revised statutes of 1828 made a final ending of the sys- 
tem by enacting that all men were free within the state, 
except in punishment for crimes of which convicted. 

Before the introduction of church bells, religious assem- 
blys were called together on the Sabbath, by the beating of 
the drum. In 1665, James Herrick was employed by the 
town of Southampton, to "beat ye drum on ye Lord's 
Dayes " for 20 shillings a year. 

Among the most frequent and interesting relics that remain 
to speak to us of the dead past, are the old burying grounds, 
which we find in every place that can , boast of any antiquity. 
In these we frequently find head stones and monumental ta- 
bles, bearing dates as far back as the middle of the eighteenth 
century, but in very few instances only, do we find any monu- 
mental record of those who died previous to that period. Still 
we have enough to show that grave-stones were used here as 
early as the year 1700, and a little before. At that early period 
which preceded this date, when society as well as government 
was in its crude and unsettled condition, it is not strange that 
pilgrims in the wilderness, should neglect giving their immedi- 
ate attention to the matter of perpetuating the names of their 
deceased fellows, by the erection of appropriate tomb-stones. 
Add to this the great expense and inconvenience of obtaining 



SUFFOLK CCTONTN. Ill 

'diem, at a time when there were but few if any stone workers 
on this side of the Atlantic, and we have a very good reason 
for the entire absence of any monument to mark the resting 
places of the first inhabitants. 

These old grave-stones were made of three different kinds 
of material. These were a brown, and a grey sand stone, the 
former being of finer and more substantial texture than the 
other, and a bluish colored slate, still more durable' than 
either. All these were probably hewn out of the quarries or 
ledges of New England. The slabs were low, and generally 
made with a rounded top, on which was frequently carved 
the rude outline of a cherub face, and beneath it the antique 
inscription begins with the common expression ''Here lyes ye 
Body of," etc. The lettering of these old inscriptions is done 
in that rambling style of typography which was in vogue cen- 
turies ago, and has lately been revived in fine book and 
pamphlet printing. Now and then we find the family coat of 
arms, represented on the monuments of those who were able 
to trace their lineage back to royal ancestry. 

On the beach which extends along the south side of this 
county, three tall light-houses have been placed : one at 
Fire Island, another at Ponquogue, forty miles east, and the 
third on Montauk Point, the easternmost extremity. The 
shore is almost literally strewn with fragments of wrecks. 
Some idea of the frequency of these casualties may be ob- 
tained from the fact, that between the first ot November 1854, 
and the 28th of June, 1857, less than three years, sixty-four 
vessels, mostly of large size, were either wrecked or in dis- 
tress upon this shore. In September 1816, a Spanish vessel 
came ashore on the beach a little west of Southampton, and 



112 SUFFOLK COUNTY. 

was abandoned by the crew. Several months after, as her 
sides were torn off by the action of the sea, a stream of Span- 
ish dollars burst from between the planking and inside 
ceiling, and fell into the sand. It is needless to say the 
dollars were " divided " among the people who were fortunate 
enough to get there in time, on the " first come, first served " 
principle. It was supposed that there had been foul play on 
board the vessel while at sea, and that none of the crew who 
came ashore in her knew of the treasure thus deposited. 

The matter of shipwreck on this beach, develops one of 
the most forcible and deplorable evidences of the depravity 
of human nature that is often thrust before us. There is a 
class of people living in the villages and hamlets that lie 
along the shore, who seem to look upon any property per- 
taining to a wrecked vessel or its cargo as legitimate plunder, 
for whoever may be the first to seize it. Accordingly, when- 
ever a vessel is driven upon this beach, these persons may be 
seen, sometimes by hundreds, flocking toward the scene of 
disaster, for the purpose of making off with whatever article 
of any value they are able to lay hands upon. This class is 
not confined as one might naturally suppose, to the " scum " 
of society exclusively, but includes oftentimes men of honest 
reputation and respectable standing, who having been reared 
and educated in society where this abominable custom is 
tolerated, look upon it with less contempt than those to 
whose matured sense of honor it appears as a new subject. 

The Suffolk County Agricultural Society, or at least the 
society from which it grew, whatever its name might have 
been, was originally formed in 1841. Its first record is lost. 
In 1843 it was re-organized, and that year, and each year fol- 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 113 

lowing until 1853, including the latter, fairs were held under 
its auspices. These were held at different places, in the 
towns of Huntington, Islip, and Smithtown, with the single 
exception that the fair for 1849 was held at Greenport. 
From 1853 to 1865 the matter rested, and no fairs were held. 
February 1st of the latter year, a meeting was held at Thomp- 
son Station to revive the subject, and re-organize the society 
on a more permanent and liberal basis. A fair was held that 
year, and in 1866, at Eiverhead. In 1867 the annual fair was 
held at Greenport. In 1868 a permanent ground had been 
secured and enclosed at Riverhead, and the fair was held at 
that place, which arrangement has continued till the present 
time. The Society now numbers about 225 life members. 

In the matter of temperance, Suffolk County has long re- 
tained a high rank. The County Temperance Convention, a 
society which has given expression to the temperance senti- 
ment of the people for nearly a quarter of a century has beers 
the means of accomplishing much good in this direction. It 
holds monthly meetings, changing about from one place to 
another whenever the temperance element is strong enough 
to furnish accommodation. Its sessions usually last two days. 
Besides this, local societies are or have been maintained in 
most of the villages. The various orders of Temperance 
whose meetings are open only to their own pledged members 
are also represented here, that of fhe "Sons of Temperance" 
to the greatest extent. The last report of the Grand Division 
of Eastern New York gives twentynine Divisions in Suffolk 
county, located at the following places : — Yaphank, Babylon, 
Riverhead, Cold Spring Harbor, Bay Shore, Sag Harbor, 
Port Jefferson, Hauppague, Patchogue, Sayville, Blue Pcint, 



Hi SUFFOLK COUNTY. 

Stony Brook, Southold, Mattituck, Jamesport, Mount Sinai, 
Smithtown, Northport, Ronkonkoma, Holbrook, Cutchogue, 
Bellport, Huntington, East Marion, Orient, Islip, Setauket, 
Atlanticville, Southamton. 

The Suffolk County Sabbatli School Association a union de- 
signed for the advancement of the cause, and promotion of 
the interest in Sunday School work, was organized about fif- 
teen years ago and has been in operation ever since. The 
Bev. Samuel Gibbs of Bellport has the honor of being the 
first to suggest the idea, and the Rev. John Reid of Franklin - 
ville, and Charles N. Brown of Sag Harbor, were elected the 
first president, and secretary, respectively. Though the 
number of schools which have taken an active interest in this 
institution is not as large as might be desired to make it a 
complete success, the encouragement afforded by the interest 
which has been taken in it has been sufficient to insure it a 
prosperous existence. It holds conventions four times a year, 
and its meetings are generally well attended. There are one 
hundred and twelve Sunday Schools in the county, and the 
thirty-four schools from which the officers of this Association 
have received returns, report in the aggregate five hundred 
and fity-one teachers and officers, and three thousand and fif- 
ty-five scholars. 

During the great national commotion, which less than 
ten years ago was shaking the foundations of the Amer- 
ican Republic, and trying by the fiery test of war, the 
power of the people to sustain their own government, the 
towns of Suffolk County responded nobly and promptly to 
the frequent calls for men and money with which to carry on 
the war for the preservation of the Union. In the list below 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 115 

we give the n amber of those in each town who were between 
the ages of eighteen and forty-five, and liable to draft ; the 
number of soldiers who went from each town ; and the num- 
ber of those who died in the service, as we find them in the 
State Census of 1865. 



TOWNS. 


LIABLE TO DRAFT. 


SOLDIERS IN THE 


DIED IN 






ARMY. 


SERVICE. 


Huntington, 


1430 


158 


39 


Smithtown, 


310 


11 


9 


Islip, 


733 


121 


18 


Brookhaven, 


1740 


231 


38 


Riverhead, 


610 


61 


16 


Southampton, 


1060 


155 


31 


Southold, 


1186 


109 


26 


Shelter Island, 


108 


12 


3 


Easthampton, 


404 


71 


22 



Total, 7581 929 202 

In the dark days of 1862, in the month of July, when Gen. 
McClellan had finished his disastrous campaign in the Vir- 
ginia Swamp ; while the Rebel guns at Vicksburg defied all 
attempts to open the Mississippi, and the heavy war bills 
were beginning to roll in on an empty Treasury, Congress 
was busy perfecting the famous Internal Revenue Act. It 
was a dangerous experiment. The Act provided for the most 
severe and searching taxation this Country had ever known. 
None but a free Country with its liberties in danger would 
have endured it. Nearly every business and profession was 
saddled with a license tax. The law was so skillfully framed 
that the government was enabled to lay its hands on almost 
every business transaction of daily life, and when men were 
dead a part of their legacies went into the U. S. Treasury. 

To set this stupendous and complicated piece of legal ma- 
chinery in motion, U. S. Assessors were apx^ointed over con- 



116 SUFEOLK COUNTY. 

venient districts, and they in turn appointed assistants. The 
Assessor of the 1st Dist. of N. Y., (which comprised the 
counties of Suffolk, Queens, and Bichinond) appointed the 
following persons to act as assistant assessors for Suffolk Co. : 
Edmund A. Bunce for the town of Huntington ; Edwin A. 
Smith for Smithtown ; Philander J. Hawkins for Islip ; Geo. C. 
Campbell for the north part, and John Hoe, Sen. , for the south 
part, of Brookhaven, David F. Vail for Biverhead ; Jonathan 
W. Huntting for Southold ; Hiram L. Sherry for Easthamp- 
ton ; and Daniel Y. Bellows for Southampton. These officers 
were instructed to make themselves familiar with the law and 
proceed at once to make a thorough canvass of their respec- 
tive districts and lay on the taxes. Some amusing incidents 
occurred during the first canvass. The law required every 
person owning silver plate to weigh and report it for tax. 
One person claimed that his plate was only nickel washed 
with silver, and therefore not taxable, but when told that his 
next door neighbor had reported 500 ounces his American 
pride came to the rescue, and by an energetic search and 
throwing in one or two pewter coffee pots he contrived to 
make up five hundred and twenty ounces, on which he paid 
tax for several years. 

The income tax yielded a larger revenue in Suffolk County 
than all the other taxes combined. The largest ever paid in 
the county was by the late Thomas Garner, Sen. , of Islip, on 
an income of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ; and 
the tax amounted to more than seven thousand dollars. The 
second source of revenue was the tax on manufactures, and the 
next on legacies and succession. The license taxes, though 
not amounting to a very large sum in the aggregate caused 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 117 

the most complaint, and seemed to bear harder on poor men. 
Congress has accordingly abolished them all except on liquors 
and cigars and a few others of that class. The whole amount 
of taxes paid in the county up to the present time is probably 
over a million dollars. 

There are at present about twenty cigar and tobacco facto- 
ries in operation in the county, yielding a revenue of about 
fifteen hundred dollars a month, and three or four banks and 
about five hundred license tax payers. The former system 
has been abolished and the taxes are now assessed and col- 
lected by collectors and their deputies. P. J. Hawkins of 
Islip is the Deputy for Suffolk, and the only officer in the 
county to transact all its Internal Eevenue business. To his 
kindness we are indebted for the facts embodied in this notice 
of Eevenue matters. 

The common school system is of course the same in general 
features in this county as in other rural counties throughout 
the state. In a few of the large villages, well regulated, 
graded schools, accommodated in spacious and magnificent 
buildings, are maintained with able management. These 
landmarks of civilization are the pride of our villages and a 
credit and honor to the county. A great part of our rising 
population is however, accommodated in the small, old- 
fashioned district school buildings, which are scattered at 
intervals of a mile or two all through the lesser villages and 
thinly settled portions. These buildings are in the main 
nearly all of the same model. They are usually sixteen to 
twenty feet wide, by thirty to forty feet long ; a single low 
story in height ; plainly built, and upon both exterior and 
interior, bear countless evidences of the early developments 



118 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 



of that seething propensity which Americans have, for mak- 
ing their mark in the world. 

The following lists contain some of the most important 
items in relation to the schools of this county. They are 
gathered from the reports to the Commissioners for the year 
ending September 30, 1872. 

TO WN OF H UN TING TON. 



d 




•9g 


na 


o «S 
■§ 85 


e3 >> . 


£ 






1 s 


co n 


> 1 "S 


| 


LOCATION. 


II 


o £ 


§ 1 


S u °° 


1H 




M"S 


i 


73 o 


00 a. " 
3 ° 


T 


Elwood, 


78 


$ 335.00 


$ 900 


$ 62,350 


2 


West Neck, 


33 


255.57 


1,000 


116,550 


3 


Huntington, 


566 


5645.00 


17,208 


517,150 


4 


Northport, 


180 


1265.00 


1,400 


96,500 


5 


West Neck, 


73 


232,50 


500 


22,400 


6 


Green Lawnf, 


26 


240.00 


500 


85,000 


7 


Centerport, 


99 


447.92 


1,900 


63,950 


8 


Crab Meadow, 


49 


373.00 


60 


57,200 


9 


Clay Pitts, 


50 


276.00 


50 


57,000 


10 


Commac, N. 


60 


288.00 


500 


64,225 


11 


Cold Spring, 


37 


* 






12 


Long Swamp, 


31 


225.00 


200 


40,000 


13 


West Hills, 


30 


275.00 


650 


80,100 


14 


Melville, 


30 


227.16 


750 


47,000 


15 


Lower Sweet Hollow, 


44 


261.24 


150 


45,275 


16 


Half Hollows, 


54 


333.34 


500 


57,450 


17 


Dix Hills, 


35 


321.60 


600 


48,000 


18 


Commac, S. 


30 


312.00 


400 


50,100 


19 


Eaton's Neck, 


31 


468.00 


800 


130,000 


20 


Cold Spring, 


144 


713.60 


3,400 


88,400 



t Commonly called Old Fields. 

* This district extends into Oyster Bay town. The figures only cover fhe part 
which lies in this town (Huntington). The school house is located in Oyster 
Bay. 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 

TOWN OF BABYLON. 



119 



d 




"c3 

.ss 


CD 

c3 to 


■s i 

o 


Value 
rty in 
ict. 


o 

CO 


LOCATION. 




o f£ 


5 a 


^ 8 is 

8 & a 

to " 


s 




s 


1 


> W 


<4 O 


1 


Babylon, 


183 | $1246.67 


$6,000 


$163,660 


2 


West Babylon, 


62 


252.00 


1,200 


41,240 


3 


North Babylon, 


59 


329.45 


950 


49,200 


4 


Breslau, 


170 


450.00 


350 


53,010 


5 


E. Ainityville, 


70 


393.71 


300 


47,680 


6 


Amityville, 


165 


1,020.96 


3,400 


112,430 


7 


Deer Park, 


44 


350.00 


500 


38,000 


8 


Farniingdale, 


15 


* 







* Part of this district extends beyond the limits of the town into Oyster Bay. 
rhe school house is located in the latter town. 



TOWN OF SMITETOWN. 



6 




el 


00 

u 

t i 


■3 S 

.§ a 

u 

02 <d 


Value 
rty in 

LCt. 


5 

2 

s 


LOCATION. 


00 S 




I 1 


8 o « 

S £ ft 

TO " 






w 


3 


^ w 


«! o 


1 


Smithtown Branch, 


79 


$ 535.30 


$7,000 


$ 85,500 


2 


Nissequague, 


24 


224.00 


110 


51,425 


3 


St. James, 


101 


635.60 


1,500 


111,500 


4 


Fresh Pond, 


72 


330.00 


400 


68,100 


5 


St. Johnland, 


34 


292.00 


500 


101,200 


6 


Upper Landing, 


33 


210.00 


315 


31,450 


7 


Head of the River, 


30 


325.00 


500 


104,300 



120 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 





TOTFiV OF ISLIP. 






6 




ai 


1 
1 8 


•a £ 

,§ s 

o 

co -a 


§ .a 


O 

CO 


LOCATION. 


5 

o .2 




^ PI 

CO CD 
j3 co 


T3 CD '2 

1 £ « 


s 




o 

CO 


i 


1 o 

> w 


3 <8 


1 


Bay Shore, W. 


82 


$ 686.97 


$ 300 


$160,425 


2 


Islip, 


210 


1,364.85 


3,000 


158,000 


3 


E. Islip, 


101 


614.64 


1,500 


130,000 


4 


Sayville, 


256 


1,445.24 


2,500 


107,275 


5 


Bayport, 


105 


740.80 


3,200 


73,475 


6 


Happauge, 


53 


308.33 


350 


70,300 


7 


Oakdale, 


49 


274.00 


1,000 


47,150 


8 


Bay Shore, 


153 


718.50 


300 


95,825 


9 


West Islip, 


64 


400.00 


500 


179,910 


10 


Holbrook, 


33 


336.02 


500 


40,000 


11 


Lakeland, 


16 


175.00 


600 


42,485 


12 


Brentwood, 


48 


527.73 


1,000 


50,025 


13 


Central Islip, 


45 


400.00 


700 


24,545 


14 


Bohemia, 


35 


216.48 


500 


5,000 





TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 








Is 

ai 


• "co 
CD 

1 i 


-3 2 

co id 


§ a 

►f 1 


"n 

co 
ft 


LOCATION. 


2-3 

CO 


■5 


4) CO 

a co 


t3 as n 
CD P< -£? 
co o 2 

cS £ ft 

CO " 

3 s 


1 


Stony Brook, N. 


81 


$ 395.83 


$1,000 


$ 61,400 


2 


Setauket, 


80 


497.50 


1,600 


150,000 


3 


Nassekeag, 


* 








4 


Stony Brook, S. 


83 


521.50 


850 


94,075 


5 


Lake Grove, 


75 


500.00 


1,500 


55,000 


6 


Port Jefferson, 


353 


2,586.00 


5,000 


270,100 


7 


Mt. Sinai, 


77 


430.00 


2,000 


63,150 


8 


Millers Place, 


33 


345.95 


50 


88,100 


9 


Rocky Point, 


30 


247.50 


400 


50,700 


10 


Woodville, 


16 


232.00 


250 


32,450 


11 


New Village, 


15 


300.00 


775 


38,500 


12 


Selden, 


19 


164.00 


300 


22,300 


13 


Farmingville, 


30 


152.00 


500 


20,000 



SUFFOLK COUNTY 



121 



TO WJST OF BROOKHA VEN {concluded). 



14 
15 
16 

17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 
32 
33 
34 
35 
30 
37 



Coram, 
Coram Hills, 
Middle Island, W. 
Middle Island, E. 
Yaphank, 
Ridgeville, 
Muorville, N. 
Manorville, S. 
Manorville, E. 
Blue Point, 
Patcliogue, 
Brookhaven, W. 
Swan River, 
E. Piitchogue, 
Bellport, 
Brookhaven, E. 
South Haven, 
Mastic, 

West Moriches, 
Centre Moriches, 
East Moriches, 
Holtsville, 
East Setauket, 
Eastport, 



39 
25 

38 
52 
64 
18 
31 
30 
19 
88 
461 
38 
36 
70 
92 
56 
24 

79 
77 

117 
17 

154 



224.00 


100 


150.00 


175 


208.00 


200 


203.00 


200 


288.00 


400 


206.40 


50 


205.00 


200 


206.70 


500 


180.00 


10 


479.20 


1,700 


2,896.01 


14,000 


280.00 


400 


257.23 


500 


413.00 


450 


904.90 


3,000 


281.00 


400 


150.00 


600 


260.00 


200 


480.00 


1,000 


541.00 


1,200 


140.00 


300 


1,195.00 


450 



37,156 
22,950 
25,100 

41,000 
84,575 
43,500 
32,450 
28,027 
30,800 
45,700 

283,225 
22,000 
38,625 
70,200 

105,500 
59,600 
32,150 

45,100 

65,500 

85,500 

19,000 

149,150 



* J?o report received. 



TOWN 01 RIVER HEAD. 





% 

02 


IiOCATION. 


.as i 
■ s 

ll 


03 

<D 03 


o 4S 

03 <E 


essed. Value 
Property in 
District. 


P 




OQ «S 1 


"L. 












<J 


> w 


< ° 


1 


Wading River, 


46 


$ 337.80 


$ 400 


$ 46,320 


2 


Calverton, W. 


26 


209.00 


60 


19,055 


3 


Baiting Hollow, 


65 1 


260.00 


400 


38,000 


4 


Calverton, 


57 1 


318.75 


100 


44,000 


5 


Riverhead, 


303 


2800.00 


5,000 


290,000 


6 


Middle Road, 


34 | 


197.50 


300 


29,200 



122 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 



TOWN OF BIVE8HEAD {concluded). 



7 


Aquebogue, W. 


47 


312.50 


1,200 


55,000 


8 


Aquebogue, E. 


51 


290.00 


50 


48,100 


9 


Jamesport, 


43 


192.00 


500 


71,200 


10 


Northville, W. 


26 


216.25 




59,635 


11 


Northville, E. 


48 


205.00 


450 


72,050 


12 


Baiting Hollow, W. 


38 


168.50 


300 


13,500 


13 


Wading River, E. 


22 


182.50 


200 


21,550 


14 


Jamesport, 


28 


265.00 


400 


23,300 


15 


Roanoke, 


51 


249.40 


400 


38,040 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 



6 






U 

c4 <g 




Value 
rty in 
ct. 


| 

u 

CQ 

8 


LOCATION. 




1 


o ^ 


3 p. i 

« 2 .8 

S £ fl 

■2< o - 


1 


Orient Point, 


25 


$ 315.00 


$ 300 


$ 72,810 


2 


Orient, 


140 


1,015.00 


4,130 


127,800 


3 


East Marion, 


98 


531.20 


2,150 


75,050 


4 


Greenport, N. 


79 


536.96 


350 


90,000 


5 


Southold, E. 


170 


895.00 


3,200 


170,500 


6 


Great Hog Keck, 


38 


440.00 


200 


49,160 


7 


Peconic, 


68 


306.00 


800 


137,250 


8 


Cutchogue, E. 


86 


337.50 


1,000 


94,050 


9 


Mattituck, 


124 


840.00 


1,400 


91,560 


10 


Mattituck, W. 


55 


350.00 


400 


78,500 


11 


Franklinville, 


36 


285.00 


1,100 


55,300 


12 


Cutchogue, W. 


63 


340.00 


400 


109,050 


13 


Aslimomogue, 


34 


270.00 


600 


36,550 


14 


Mattituck, N. 


68 


401.05 


1,400 


60,785 


15 


Southold, W. 


55 


378.75 


500 


58,075 


16 


Greenport, 


395 


2,220.69 


5,500 


306,350 


17 


New Suffolk, 


73 


312.00 


500 


19,800 


18 


Plum Island, 


* 









* No report received from this district. No school kept 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 



123 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 



6 
ft 




c3 


CO 
U 
<D 

03 <g 


O CO 

00 * 


: Value 
:rty in 
ict. 


't-t 

ED 

ft 


LOCATION. 


re 1 
Ma 

co 


2 * 


o * 

<C CO 


to O CO 
CO U ^ 

£ * fi 

CO <4-c 
4 O 


1 


Speonk, 


43 


$ 277.50 


$ 250 


$ 53,511 


2 


Westliampton, 


47 


314.00 


700 


27,500 


3 


Quogue, 


40 


224.88 


300 


57,080 


4 


Flanders, 


48 


290.00 


500 


23,070 


5 


Good Ground, 


105 


292.00 


300 


30,000 


6 


Southampton, S. 


61 


268.50 


600 


115,860 


7 


Watermill, 


50 


225.00 


100 


121,000 


8 


Hay Ground, 


61 


260.00 


200 


118,608 


9 


Bridgehanipton, 


97 


257.50 


400 


118,265 


10 


Sagg, 


55 


307.50 


300 


142,390 


11 


Sag Harbor, 


503 


3,478.11 


20,000 


556,492 


12 


Hog Neck, 


27 


135.00 


300 


32,400 


13 


Tuckahoe, 


23 


116.00 


300 


32,448 


14 


Noyack, 


19 


144.16 


150 


24,276 


15 


North Sea, 


44 


213.50 


400 


45,350 


16 


Southampton, N. 


46 


198.75 


1,000 


117,300 


17 


Ketchaboneck, 


53 


272.25 


400 


61,660 


18 


Scuttle Hole, 


45 


274,57 


500 


78,000 


19 


Red Creek, 


# 








20 


Eastport, 


44 


188.00 


200 


20,372 


21 


Union Place, 


SO 


220.00 


600 


27,931 


22 


Atlanticville, 


71 


360.00 


1,000 


32,500 


23 


Springville, 


80 


360.00 


150 


34,606 



* No report from this district. No school kept. 



TOWN OF SHELTER ISLAND. 







eS 


"to 


o J 


2 fl 
a •* 


ft 




a • 


3 

e3 oo 




> -S .2 


'u 

CO 

ft 


LOCATION. 


co _cS 

IS 

.a 
o 

CO 


2 £ 
a 


^ a 

o * 

<U CO 
3 to 

> m 


Assessed 

of Prope 

Distr 


1 


Shelter Island, 


141 


$1000.00 


$3,500 


$205,500 



124 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 



TOWN OF EAST HAMPTON. 



& 




a ® 


"to 
H 


o S 

!■ 

CO -a 


Value 
cty in 
ict. 


O 

B 

tG 

s 


LOCATION. 


CO _g 

a* 

o 


<D 03 
lL bo 

o £ 

a 
< 


11 
>• W 


m Qj ■+» 

w o .2 

S £ A 

to " 

3 =s 


1 


East Hampton, 


55 


$ 465.00 


$ 


$227,950 


2 


Wainscott, 


25 


140.00 


300 


52,000 


3 


Amagansett, 


94 


320.00 


300 


100,000 


4 


Springs, 


94 


346.00 


500 


49,500 


5 


East Hampton, 


78 


350.00 


200 


98,650 


6 


Northwest, 


10 


154.00 


100 





The office of School Commissioner has been filled, since it 
was constituted, by the following : 



1st Dist. 
2d ** 


1st 

2d 




1st 

2d 


n 

tt 


1st 
2d 


tt 
tt 


1st 
2d 


a 
tt 



Jonathan W. Huntting, 
William Nicoll, 

E. Jones Ludlow, 
William Nicoll, 

Cordello D. Elmer, 
Thomas S. Mount, 

Horace H. Benjamin, 
Thomas S. Mount, 

Horace H. Benjamin, 
S. Orlando Lee, 



1858 to 1861. 



1861 to 1864. 



1864 to 1870. 



1870 to 1873. 






1873 to 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 



125 



<rt- X- !— ' J* rt> 



CO £ CD pi < 6 £■£,.!-?£ 
£3 e+- ££ et- CD O" e-t-t^ ^ 



2 o 



W OT M C5 00 Ci tC W ^ C. 

cncotf^oooi-'cn-qrf^cc 

OWH^IOt^OCObOC 



W O M o tc C O Ci 03 CO 
tO Ci C1<1 C rf^ GO 00 Cj C 
^ CT tO 3 <l CO CT O) X M 



Children in attendance. 
luring the year ending 
September 30th, 1872. 



Inhabitants between 

the ages of five and 

twenty-one, Septemb'i 

30th, 1872. 



M 00 J-* ZO OS JjS 00 JO rf^- JO 

^ bs b ~-o "to oi Id "in © V 

OKI O tf^ tf^ M 00 M tO Cl 



Amount paid for 

Teachers' salaries dur 

ing the year ending 

September 30th, 1872 



MMMM 



h-i GO CO CO © © oi © JO h-i 

f^. as Or © ^ 1o ~© "co ~-<i "^ 

ocnococsoscntoocs 
OOOOOOOCnOCO 



Value of School-houses 
and Sites. 



m os i— i en ~q © j- ' ,os oo 
© bn oo co bo "h- 1 co © © to 

<]OHIO^OlOWCOM 

-q co co to os i— i oo en co cs 



Raised by tax for 
School purposes dur 

ing the year ending 
September 30th, 1872 



l_i y-i bO I- 1 H-i tO 

toioi-^^oo^cncooto 


MtOHtC^OOOCOGOC 

en co o en en en rf^ co to -q 

co oo os to en os i— i ow<i 


h|^ ~q CO -3 1— '00MCC00O 

oo-q^qent-'-aen-qeni-i 



Total receipts for 
School purposes dur- 
ing the year ending 
September 30th, 1872 



co i— 1 co en oo hp^ tf*. 
en oo co en rf^ oo co I— ' 

enenenoocoencoo 



KM 

CO 



Number of children 

attending school in 

1837. 



M to 



to 



rf^ co to rf^ -q rf^ en en © 

o^oo-^i— i oo to en os 

MWp<IJOOTp^ .H^ 

Orf^O-^rf^i— 'Onco co 

coosoco-ioocoen * © 



Amount paid for 

Teacher's salaries in 

1837. 



12C SUFFOLK COUNTY. 

In tlie following lists are contained the names of those who 
have held important offices in this county at different periods 
from its organization down to the present time. There are 
other lists which we should have been pleased to present, but 
a lack of the necessary information to make them complete 
forbids. 

Under an ordinance of the governor and council in 1699, 
the Judges were successively as follows : — 
1723, Henry Smith, Eichard Floyd, Benjamin Youngs.. 
1729, Henry Smith, Benjamin Youngs, Samuel Hutchinson. 
1738, Henry Smith, Joshua Youngs, Thomas Chatfield. 
1752, Richard Floyd, Elijah Hutchinson, Hugh Gelston. 
1764, Richard Floyd, Samuel Landon, Hugh Gelston. 
1771, William Smith, Samuel Landon, "Isaac Post. 
1775, William Smith, Samuel Landon. Isaac Post. 
The following have served since the Revolution. 

Selah Strong, 17a3 to 1793. 

Ebenezer Piatt, 1793 to 1799. 

Abraham Woodhull, 1799 to 1810. 

Thomas S. Strong, 1810 to 1823. 

Joshua Smith, 1823 to 1828. 

Jonathan S. Conklin, 1828 to 1833. 

Hugh Halsey, 1833 to 1847. 

Abraham T. Rose, July 1, 1847 to Jan. 1, 1852. 

William P. Buffett. 1852 to 1856. 

Abraham T. Rose, 1856 to May 1, 1857. 

George Miller, May 1, 1857 to Jan. 1, 1858. 

J. Lawrence Smith, 1859 to 1866. 

Henry P. Hedges, 1866 to 1870. 

John R. Reid, 1870 to the present time. 

Clerics of the County, under the colonial administration, 
Henry Pierson, 1669 to 1681. 
John Howell Jr., 1681 to 1692. 
Thomas Helme, 1692 to 1709. 
Henry Smith, 1709 to 1716. 
C. Congreve, 1716 to 1722. 
Samuel Hudson, 1722 to 1730. 
William Smith, 1730 to 1750. 
William NicoU, 1750 to 1775. 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 127 

Under the State Government. 

William B. Bevans, 1783 to 1784. 

Ezra L'Hominedieu, 1784 to 1810. 

Hull Osbom, 1810 to 1812. 

Charles H. Havens, 1812 to 1820. 

Charles A Floyd, 1820 to 1822. 

Charles H. Havens, 1822 to 1829. 

Joseph B. Huntting, 1829 to 1838. 

George S. Phillips, 1838 to 1840. 

Samuel A. Smith, 1840 to 1844. 

J. Wickham Case, 1844 to 1850. 

Benjamin T. Hutchinson, 1850 to 1853. 

James B. Cooper, 1853 to 1856. 

Wilmot Scudder, 1856 to 1859. 

Charles E. Dayton, 1859 to 1862. 

John Wood, 1862 to 1868. 

Stephen C. Bogers, 1868 to 1871. 

George C. Campbell, 1871 to the present time. 



County Treasurers. 

Nathaniel Smith, 1749 to 1764. 

Josiah Smith, 1764 to 1786. 

Selah Strong, 1786 to 1802. 

William Smith, 1802 to 1803. 

Nicoll Floyd, 1803 to 1834. 

Wm. Sidney Smith, 1834 to 1848. 

Harvey W. Vail, 1848 to 1852. 

J. Wickham Case, 1852 to 1855. 

Lester H. Davis, 1855 to 1858. 

Elbert Carll, 1858 to 1861. 

Francis M. A. Wicks, 1861 to 1864. 

Jarvis B. Mowbray, 1864 to 1867. 

Joseph H. Goldsmith, 1867 to Aug. 7, 1869.* 

Stephen B. French, Aug. 7, 1869 to the present time. 

Members of the Colonial Council from Suffolk. 

Col. John Youngs, from 1683 to 1698. 
Col. William Smith, from 1691 to 1704. 
William Nicoll, from 1691 to 1704. 

*Mr. Goldsmith was compelled by sickness to resign the office before the 
aspiration of his term. 



128 SUFFOLK COUNTY. 

Representatives in the Colonial Assembly from this country. 

Henrv Pierson, 1691 to 1695. 
Mathew Howell, 1691 to 1693. 
John Tuthill, 1693 to 1694. 
Mathew Howell, 1694 to 1705. 
John Tuthill, 1695 to 1698. 
Henry Pierson, 1693 to 1701. 
William Nicoll, 1702 to 1723, 
Samuel Mulford, 1705 to 1726. 
Epenetus Piatt, 1723 to 1739. 
Samuel Hutchinson, 1726 to 1748. 
Daniel Pierson, 1737 to 1748. 
Eleazer Miller, 1748 to 1769. 
WiUiam Nicoll (2d), 1739 to 1769. 
William Nicoll (3d), 1768 to 1769. 
Nathaniel Woodlmll, 1769 to 1775. 
William Nicoll (3d), 1769 to 1775. 

r Representatives of Suffolk County in the Assembly, 

1777 to 1783 ; Burnett Miller, David Gelston, Ezra L'Hom- 
medieu, Thomas Tredwell, Thomas Wicks. 

1784 — 5 ; David Gelston, Thomas Youngs. Ebenezer Piatt, 
John Smith, Jeffrey Smith. 

1786 ; Jonathan N. Havens, David Hedges, Thomas Youngs, 
Jeffrey Smith, Nathaniel Gardiner. 

1787 ; Jonathan N. Havens, David Hedges, Daniel Osbom, 
John Smith, Caleb Smith. 

1788 ; Jonathan N. Havens, John Smith, Daniel Hedges, 
Daniel Osbom. 

1789 ; Jonathan N. Havens, David Hedges, Nathaniel Gar- 
diner, John Smith, Henry Scudder. 

1790 ; Nathaniel Gardiner, Henry Scudder, John Smith, 
Jonathan N. Havens, Jared Landon. 

1791 ; Jonathan N. Havens, John Gelston, John Smith, Phile- 
tus Smith, Thomas Wickham. 

1792 ; Jonathan N. Havens, John Smith, John Gelston, 
Henry Scudder. 

1793 ; Jonathan N. Havens, John Smith, Ebenezer Piatt, 
John Gelston. 

1794 ; Jonathan N. Havens, John Smith, John Gelston, 

Joshua Smith, Jr. 
1795 ; Jonathan N. Havens, John Gelston, Isaac Thompson, 

Joshua Smith, Jr. 






SUFFOLK COUNTY. 129 

1796 — 7; Abraham Miller, Silas Wood, Jared Landon, 

Joshua Smith, Jr. 
1798 ; Abraham Miller, Silas Wood, Josiah Reeve, John 

Howard. 

1799 ; John Smith, Jared Landon, Nicoll Floyd, Joshua 
Smith, Jr. 

1800 ; Silas Wood, John Smith, Jared Landon, Nicoll Floyd. 

1801 ; Nicoll Floyd, Mills Phillips, Abraham Miller, Jared 
Landon . 

1802 ; Israel Carll, Jared Landon, Abraham Miller, Tredwell 
Scudder. 

1803 ; Israel Carll, Josiah Reeve, Jonathan Dayton. 

1804 ; David Hedges, Israel Carll, Sylvester Dering. 

1805 ; Jared Landon, Israel Carll, Jonathan Dayton. 

1806 ; Jared Landon, Israel Carll, David Hedges. 

1807 ; Israel Carll, David Hedges, David Warner. 

1808 ; Israel Carll, Jonathan Davton, Thomas S. Lester. 

1809 ; Mills Phillips, Abraham Rose, Daniel T. Terry. 

1810 ; Abraham Rose, John Rose, Tredwell Scudder. 

1811 ; Tredwell Scudder, Thomas S. Lester, Jonathan S. 
Conklin. 

1812 ; Abraham Rose, Usher H. Moore, Nathaniel Potter. 

1813 ; Benjamin F. Thompson, Henry Rhodes, Caleb Smith. 
1814 ; Thomas S. Lester, Nathaniel Potter, Jonathan S. 

Conklin. 

1815 ; Tredwell Scudder, John P. Osborn, John Wells. 

1816 ; Abraham Rose, Benjamin F. Thompson, Phineas Carll. 

1817 ; Israel Carll, Thomas S. Lester, Abraham Parsons. 

1818 : Charles H. Havens, John P. Osborn, Nathaniel Miller. 

1819 ; John P. Osborn, Isaac Conklin, Daniel Youngs. 

1820 ; Charles H. Havens, Abraham Parsons, Ebenezer W. 
Case. 

1821 ; John M. Williamson, Isaac Conklin, John P. Osborn. 

1822 ; Tredwell Scudder, Hugh Halsey. John M. Williamson. 

1823 ; Samuel Strong, Joshua Fleet. 

1824 ; Hugh Halsey, Josiah Smith. 

1825 ; Joshua Smith, David Hedges, Jr. 

1826 ; John M. Williamson, Usher H. Moore. 
1827 . Samuel Strong, George L. Conklin . 

1828 ; Tredwell Scudder, Abraham H. Gardiner. 

1829 ; John M. Williamson, David Hedges, Jr. 

1830 ; Samuel Strong, Noah Youngs. 

1831 ; George S. Phillips, George L. Conklin. 

1832 ; JoIid M. Williamson, Samuel L'Hommedieu, Jr. 



130 BUFFOLK COUNTY. 



David Hedges, Jr. , William Wickes. 
William Sidney Smith, John Terry. 
George S. Phillips, George L. Conklin. 
Charles A. Floyd, Nathaniel Topping. 
John M. Williamson, Josiah Dayton. 
Charles A. Floyd, Sidney L. Griffin. 
Joshua B. Smith, J. Wickham Case. 
John M. Williamson, David Halsey. 
Alanson Seaman, Josiah C. Dayton. 
Richard A. Udall, Benjamin F. Wells. 
Samuel B. Nicoll, Joshua B. Smith. 
Richard W. Smith, Silas Horton. 
John H. Dayton, Darling B. Whitney. 
Richard A Udall, Samuel B. Gardiner. 
Henry Landon, J. Lawrence Smith. 
Edwin Rose, Win. Sidney Smith. 
Edwin Rose, Nathaniel Miller. 
David Pierson, Walter Scudder. 
Franklin Tuthill, Egbert T. Smith. 
Henry P. Hedges, Zophar B. Oakley. 
Abraham H. Gardiner, William H. Ludlow, 
George Miller, William S. Preston. 
John E. Chester, David Piatt. 
David G. Floyd, Wm. Sidney Smith. 
Edwin Rose, Abraham G. Thompson. 
George Howell, George P. Mills. 
Benjamin F. Wiggins, Richard J. Cornelius. 
Philander R. Jennings, Richard J. Cornelius. 
James H. Tuthill, Alexander J. Bergen. 
John C. Davis, John S. Havens. 
Benjamin F. Wiggins, John S. Haveus. 
William H. Gleason, Henry C. Piatt. 
William H. Gleason, Henry C. Piatt. 
James H. Tuthill, Richard A. Udall. 
Alfred Wagstaff, Jr. 
James M. Halsey. 
William A. Conant. 
Brinley D. Sleight. 
George F. Carman. 
John S. Marey* 
John S. Marcy, 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 



131 



The Sheriffs of Suffolk County have taken office as follows: 



Hugh Gray, 1702. 
John Brush, 1710. 
Daniel Youngs, 1718. 
Samuel Davton, 1723. 
William Sell, 1728. 
Joseph Smith, 1730. 
Jacob Conklin, 1734. 
Thomas Higbe, 1740. 
George Muirson, 1748. 
James Muirson, 1774. 
Thomas Wickes, 1785. 
Silas Halsey, 1787. 
Thomas Wickes, 1791. 
Phineas Carll, 1793. 
John Brush, 1797. 
Phineas Carll, 1799. 
Josiah Reeve, 1803. 
Phineas Smith, 1807. 
Josiah Reeve, 1808. 
Benjamin Brewster, 1810. 
Josiah Reeve, 1811. 



Benjamin Brewster, 1812. 
Nathaniel Conklin, 1814. 
Josiah Reeve, 1815. 
Samuel Carll, 1819. 
Abraham H. Gardiner 
Samuel Smith, 1826. 
Abraham H. Gardiner 
Richard W. Smith, 1832. 
Silas Horton, 1835. 
Samuel Miller, 1838. 
David C. Brush, 1841. 
Henry T. Penny, 1844. 
David R. Rose, 1847. 
John Clark (3d), 1850. 
Samuel Phillips, 1853. 
George F. Carman, 1856. 
Stephen J. Wilson, 1859. 
Daniel H. Osborn, 1862. 
John Shirley, 1865. 
George W. Smith, 1868. 
J. Henry Perkins, 1871. 



1821. 



1829. 



132 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 



Brookhave 

Easthampt 

Huntingto: 

Islip, 

Riverhead, 

Shelter Isl 

Smitlitown 

Southampt 

Southold, 


Broo 
East 
Hun 
Islip 
Rive 
Shel 
Smit 
Sout 
Sout 




ogjt^ p % p- 


o 


o - S Pop 


o - g P o ts 


5 


J* JL J P F 


g g - p - 


i 

H 

o 


£ 


H3 


o 




o 


H 








h3 


LC 


COOiK-» tDJ-iOStDj-a 


l-i 

GO 


H-i 

OS 


co co i— 1 • S^^S^ 


h-i 


o 

i 


rf- 


colo^co mVoctoo 
ooco<i^oa<]CT 


rf*. 


V 


isC V o to • osloVto 


CO 


3 


— 


o 


M^ 


potao- o os co to 


c 


cc 


CO 


-qOTtOCOCOCOtOOSO 




© 


CO GO tO I-* • OOO^ 




o 


col 


1— I 

GO 


p 


toooj-i ^ pj-'tf*- 


oc 


CO 

d 


Crph-'isD 00 M^ Co'o^q'H-i rfs* 


^ 




lo osTh- toV CO 00 Ox o 


c 


§ 


~qcOh-icO^-]COtf^OiOS 


Or 


hr~ 


O <1 H Oi CO Oi CO ^ lO 


o 


"3 


co|i-h>o-3oscoocosoti-' 




OS 


OOCOOGOGOrf^COtO 




o 
w 


col 




tO 






os ri^ os i-i toto-qtooc 


h-i 


I— 1 


tO CO l-i H-i IH- H-i IH- 


I— 1 


f5 






GO 








CO 


~aoTcocoorostf^i-im 
boo^co^oootocc 


Or 


1— I 


OSOOOiCO-^GOiH-hH-H-i 


H-i 


o 


lc 


o 


M 


H-'COCOtOI-iGOtOGC-q 


c 


d 


to 


COh-itOC5©tOI-itOm 




CO 


COCOtOcoi-'Cntf^H^OS 




2 




Or OS tO tO CO GO tO CD 


1— I 


to 

1— i 


tO CO l-i HMWM^ 


I— 1 
cc 








GO 






hi 


c 


OS Go O ^ ~q to i— 'h- 'a; 


CK 


CO 


OjCT--1C0<1OC0^<] 




os 


-qtcoococoaotf^rf^cc 


O* 


OS 


-qtO-q-^OT-qrf^rf^CO 


H- 1 


y 


05 


OSl-i^qCOK^tOtOOTOS 




GO 


CO<IMCOOi^OSCOO 




H-i 
B9 


CO 


m os to co co go to co 


H» 


fcO 


to hH- H-i h-i H-i tf*- M Ot 


H 


1 
1 






GO 






CO 


LC 


OOGOH-iCnOGC'COfcOCO 


OS 


l>o 


COLOODCOGOH-'CDOStO 


LC 


~q 


030050(^l^bO©M 

cocooos^mi^~qco 


o 


•<! 


OStO-qGOOiOlCO*-^ 


o 


a 


CT 




to 


G0CO>H-CO^OSCnOS00 




1-3 




1 l) 


to| 

CO] tO ^ H-i MHI^HOI 


h- 1 
GO 










cc 


lo M O WWbD 00 W h*| OS 


OsK^OiOsOTGOCOOtCncO 
CD|CJiOS~arf^H-irf».rf»-0*CO 


LC 


o 
u 

co 


o. 


<JOOO-qbO^CMW 


O* 


O* 


CC 


tOt^CnOOiWCCHCO 




oi|coi-'-qcoosrf^oosco 




rf*- 


I— 1 h- 1 




to 






O! 


os os to co^owo 


1— i 

GO 


OS 


to l£>- 1— i tO h-i Oi h-i OS 


h-i 














CO 


<n-»Ha^oi<iWH 


-5 


-~q 


CDGCOSCOOOSOiOSO 


CO 




LC 


HWW|^05CDO<101 


■ o 


GO 


OWCOWHOlOOOCO 


© 




rf* 


Oi Or 05 Or M <| i^ bO CO 




o 


OOOSOOSCOtOGOOX 










to 


MCiH J^J-'Pt^P 


1— ' 

CT> 










^a 


tO "tO O* CO^b^^n-bo 00 


CO 










to 


CO — 1 CC CO CO LC CO 1— i OS 


o\ 










H^ 


OsOiOtf^GCOOGOCOOs 







CHAPTER Till. 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON — HISTOEY AND DESCRIPTION. 



The town of Huntington formerly occupied the whole 
breadth of the island, at the west end of the county of Suffolk. 
It was bounded on the west by Oysterbay township in Queens 
county, north by the Sound, east by Smithtown and Islip, and 
south by the Ocean. Its width on the north side was about 
eight miles and on the south side six miles, and its length from 
north to south — from sound to ocean — about twenty miles. 
The first purchase of land within the territory thus described 
was made by Theophilus Eaton, Governor of New Haven, in 
1646, and consisted of that peninsula on the north side known 
as Eaton's Neck. This purchase was probably made of the 
Matinecock tribe of Indians who at that time were a powerful 
nation and occupied the north side of the island as far east as 
the eastern limits of this town. 

The first purchase made by actual settlers, of which we 
have any account, was made by Richard Holdbrook, Robert 
Williams and Daniel Whitehead, in 1653, and they were with- 
out doubt the first or among the first settlers of the town, and 
the date of their purchase is accepted as the date of its first 
settlement. This purchase was made of course like the previ- 
ous one, of the Indians, and comprised six miles square in the 
north-west corner of the present limits of the town. It lay 
from Cold Spring Harbor on the west to Northport Harbor on 
the east, and extended south to the middle Country road. 



134 TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 

This tract is still known as the "Old Purchase." The price 
paid for it was six bottles, six coats, six hatchets, thirty eel- 
spears, thirty needles, six shovels, ten knives and ten fathoms 
of wampum. 

Another purchase was made of the Indians in 1656, extend- 
ing from the eastern bounds of the last one to the Nesaquake 
or Nissaquague Eiver. The right of the Matinecock Indians 
to the eastern part of this tract was disputed by the Nissa- 
quague Sachem who was sustained in the dispute by Wyan- 
danch the Grand Sachem of the island. The dispute was con- 
tinued by the purchasers of Huntington and Smithtown until 
1675, when the line which strikes the Sound at Fresh Pond 
was decided upon as the boundary between the two towns. 
The part of this tract which by that decision remained to the 
town of Huntington is now known as the "Eastern purchase," 
and it extends south to the old country road. 

In 1657 and 8 several necks of meadow land on the south 
side were purchased by Jonas Wood and others, of the Seca- 
tag-.i3 and Marsapeague tribes. 

During the early years of the settlement of this town its 
government, like that of all the other towns in this county 
was independent, the supreme power, legislative judicial and 
executive resting in the hands of the people. This continued 
until 1660, when the town was placed under the protec- 
tion of the colony of Connecticut, and in 1662 was admitted as 
a part of that colony. This arrangement continued until the 
conquest of 1664, though it had hardly been perfected before 
the inauguration of the Duke's government broke off the con- 
nection. 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 135 

The town was incorporated by a patent issued under Gov. 
Nichols, bearing date Nov. 13, 1666. The persons named in 
this patent were Jonas Wood, William Leveredge, Robert 
Seely, John Ketcham, Thomas Scidmore, Isaac Piatt, Thomas 
Jones, and Thomas Wicks. This patent covered the territory 
from Cold Spring Harbor to Nissaquague River on the Sound, 
and extending across to the sea. In 1686 Gov. Dongan com- 
pelled the people of this town to take a new patent to cover 
lands which had been purchased of the Indians since the date 
of the first patent. This was issued Aug. 2, 1688, and the ex- 
pense which the people were thus obliged to incur in satisfy- 
ing the quit-rent and fees charged by the governor was £29, 
4s. 7d. A final patent was granted under Gov. Fletcher, Oct. 
5, 1694, in which the former boundaries of the town were al- 
tered and established as follows : "being bounded on the west 
by a river called and known by the name Cold Spring, a line 
running south from the said Cold Spring to the South 
Sea, and on the north by the Sound that runs between our 
said Island of Nassau and the main continent, and on the east 
by a line running from the west side of a pond called and 
known by the name of Freshpond to the west side of Whit- 
man's dale or hollow, and from thence to a river on the south 
side of a neck called Sampawams, and from the said river run- 
ning to the said South Sea." In this patent Joseph Bayly, 
Thomas Wicks, Jonas Wood, John Wood, John Wicks, Thom- 
as Brush, and John Adams were constituted and "ordained" 
Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of the town of 
Huntington. This patent cost the town £56, 18s. 3d. of which 
the Governor and his associates pocketed £50. 

The spirit with which the people of Huntington entered 



136 TOWN 0\T HUNTINGTON. 

the great conflict for American Liberty is shown by the fol- 
lowing resolutions, which were passed at a general town meet* 
ing held June 21, 1774= ; Israel Wood, presiding. 

" 1st. That every freeman's property is absolutely his own, 
and no man has a right to take it from him without his con- 
sent, expressed either by himself or his representative. " 

"2d. That therefore, all taxes and duties imposed on Hia 
Majesty's subjects in the American Colonies by the authority 
of Parliament, are wholly unconstitutional, and a plain viola- 
tion of the most essential rights of British subjects." 

' ' 3d. That the Act of Parliament lately passed for shutting 
up the port of Boston, or any other means or device, under 
color of law, to compel them, or any other of His Majesty's 
American subjects, to submit to Parliamentary taxations, are 
subversive of their just and constitutional liberty." 

' ' 4th. That we are of opinion that our brethren of Boston 
are now suffering in the common cause of British America." 

"5th. That therefore it is the indispensable duty of all 
the colonies to unite in some effectual measures for the repeal 
of said Act, and every other Act of Parliament whereby they 
are taxed for raising a revenue." 

"6th. That it is the opinion of this meeting that the most 
effectual means for obtaining a speedy repeal of said Actsj 
will be to break off all commercial intercourse with Great 
Britain, Ireland, and the English West India colonies. " 

" 7th. And we hereby declare ourselves ready to enter into 
these, or such other measures, as shall be agreed upon by a 
General Congress of all the colonies ; and we recommend to 
the General Congress, to take such measures as shall be most 
effectual, to prevent such goods as are at present in America, 
from being raised to an extravagant price. " 

"And, lastly, we appoint Col. Piatt Conklin, John Sloss 
Hobart, Esq. , and Thos. Wicks, a committee for this town, 
to act in conjunction with the committees of the other towns 
in the county, to correspond with the committee of N. Y." 

The town plot, where the first settlement was made, was 

what is now the eastern part of the village of Huntington. 

This was divided into "house lots" and distributed among the 

inhabitants to be occupied and improved by them individually, 

while the remaining lands were held and used in common. 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 137 

As the population increased the remaining lands were pur- 
chased of the natives, either by individuals or the Trustees in 
their corporate capacity, and allotments of land were made at 
different times to the original purchasers in proportion to the 
various amounts each had contributed to the expense of satis- 
fying Indian claims and the quit-rents and patent fees of the 
governors. 

Jan. 27, 1872, the people at a special town meeting voted to 
divide this town and form a separate one of the southern part. 
A petition to this effect was presented to the legislature, and 
March 3d, an Act was passed constituting that portion of the 
former town of Huntington lying south of a line one mile 
north of the Long Island railroad as the town of Babylon, and 
leaving the northern part to continue as the town of Hunt- 
ington. The Board of Trustees of the Freeholders and Com- 
monalty established first by the patent of 1688 and confirmed 
by the subsequent one of 1694, was abolished by an Act of the 
legislature passed May 3, 1872, and their powers and duties 
were vested in the Supervisor, Assessors, and Town Clerk. 

The town of Huntington as it now is, occupies the north- 
west corner of the county. It contains about forty-six thou- 
sand acres, more than one half of which is improved and di- 
vided into beautiful farms. The northern part and some of 
the interior is hilly, and the surface generally is elevated, but 
large tracts of rich level plain stretch "far and wide" in differ- 
ent parts. Farming is the chief industry of the people. The 
inhabitants are thinly scattered over nearly the whole surface 
of the town. The population would probably vary but little 
from seven thousand. 

The northern part of the town is thrown into irregular 



138 TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 

necks and projections of land by counter irregularities of water, 
which form a labyrinth of bays, harbors and coves upon the 
north shore. Lloyd's Neck, once called Horse Neck, and by 
the Indians Caumsett, is a peninsula about three miles in length 
by one and a half to two in width, its length being parallel 
with the island, lying opposite the northwest corner of the 
town and at that extreme point connected to it by a narrow 
isthmus. It was supposed by the settlers to whom the In- 
dians granted the tract of land known as the "Old Purchase" 
that this tract of land was embraced in that grant, but it ap- 
pears the Indians did not so understand it, for in 1654, the fol- 
lowing year, they sold it again to three men living in Oyster- 
bay. In after years when it became necessary to fix the limits 
of the towns more definitely, the town of Oysterbay though 
geographically disconnected from it, claimed it as belonging 
to that jurisdiction on the ground that its owners had resided 
there. This claim was supported by the colonial legislature 
who in 1691 sanctioned the annexation of it to that town, and 
the arrangement is still maintained. 

Eaton's Neck, a ragged shaped body of land almost sur- 
rounded by water, lies something more than a mile to the east 
of Lloyd's Neck, and is joined to the island by a narrow sand 
beach extending from its southeastern extremity to near the 
eastern border of the town. 

Huntington Bay is the space of water lying between the two 
"necks" just noticed, and is the connecting link between the 
Sound and the several bays and harbors which lie within the 
enclosure which they form. From this bay, Lloyd's Harbor 
is a narrow body of water extending westward about three 
miles to the isthmus that connects that neck to the island. 



TOWN OP HUNTINGTON. 139 

From Huntington Bay, Huntington Harbor opens southwardly 
about two miles. Behind Eaton's Neck, Northport Bay ex- 
tends eastward from Huntington Bay. South from this Cen- 
terport and Northport Harbors project inland. Little Neck 
is a peninsula lying between these two harbors. East Neck 
is that body of land situated between Oenterport and Hunting- 
ton Harbors, and West Neck occupies the space between the 
latter and Cold Spring Harbor. 

Cold Spring is a village of seven hundred and thirty inhabi- 
tants, in the extreme northwest part of this town, and of 
course occupying the same relative position in the county. 
A part of the suburbs lie beyond the line, in Queens County, 
but the principal part, and the business centre is within this 
town. The greater part of the village is scattered along the 
east side of Cold Spring Harbor for a distance of more than 
two miles, being near its head, and about four miles from the 
Sound. The road upon which most of the village is located 
follows a rather serpentine course along the shore of the har- 
bor, at the foot of a rugged succession of timbered hills. 
From near the middle of this, another street runs east, up the 
slope through a recess in the hills. The continuation of this 
street extends over to Huntington, two miles' east of here. 
The Indian name for this locality was Nachaquatuck, and the 
name of the harbor Wauwepex. The scenery around this har- 
bor is full of romance, wild and beautiful. Dark wooded hills 
rise on every side, and here and there homely cottages or 
lordly mansions find quiet hiding places between them. 

A smart stream of water, rising a few miles inland flows 
into the head of Cold Spring Harbor. This stream supplies 
three ponds, which follow each other in immediate succession, 



140 TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 

furnishing power for driving a grist-mill which stands at the 
head of navigation on the harbor. The water is conducted to 
this mill by a canal from the lower pond, a distance of about 
a quarter of a mile. The upper pond is ' devoted to trout 
culture, and a large woolen factory now silent, was once in 
operation upon the second one. On the west side of the 
stream and harbor, several other factories were once busy, 
being supplied with water from springs in the hills above 
them. 

Just below the dam of the lower mill-pond, noticed above, 
and near the head of tide water is a curious and valuable 
spring of fresh, cold water, whose ever gurgling flow appears 
strongly impregnated with iron, and perhaps some other min- 
eral substances. The waters of this spring are believed to 
contain valuable medicinal properties, and instances are not 
wanting in which invalids, reduced to alarming extremes, have 
been greatly benefitted and even restored to health by drink- 
ing of it. We conscientiously believe that its recuperative 
effects upon the human system may be felt from even a single 
draught. This conviction is based upon our own experience. 
At the close of a day spent in fatiguing labor, when limbs 
were tired with walking — fingers tired with writing — brain 
tired with thinking — lungs tired with talking, — and the whole 
body well nigh wearied out, we stepped within the octagonal 
summer-house which encloses this fountain of health and 
drank of its waters,— and felt revived and strengthened — 
almost prepared for another round of toil. The water has a 
slight peculiarity in its taste, but not an unpleasant one, how- 
ever. The pebble stones and pieces of wood washed by it are 
thickly coated with a brownish deposit, somewhat resembling 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 1-11 

iron rust. Near this remarkable spring is another whose 
waters are charged with sulphur; and still another, sending 
forth the pure element, as it gushed from the rock that Moses 
smote before the murmuring Israelites, in the bleak wilderness 
of Horeb. 

One of the principal features of this place is its shipping. 
About thirty-five schooners and large sloops §ail from this 
port. " It was at one time largely interested in the whale fish- 
ery. During the prosperous days of that enterprise, about 
thirty years ago, nine or ten vessels belonging to this port 
were engaged in the business. Over on the west side of the 
harbor near its head is a small settlement containing the sail- 
lofts, storage houses and cooperages which were built to 
accommodate the business. The enterprise here, as almost 
everywhere else is now about extinct, only its footprints being 
left to remind us of its faded grandeur. Marine railways, 
lumber and coal yards are located near the head of navigation 
on the east side of the harbor. Jones' Dock is about a mile 
and a half below, at the very northernmost extremity of the 
village. A steamboat plies daily between this and New York 
City, touching also at Laurelton Dock on the opposite side of 
the harbor and at Lloyd's Dock, two miles below, near the 
isthmus which connects Lloyd's Neck with the land of this 
town. 

The Wauwepek Hotel, a handsome building designed for 
the accommodation of summer boarders and pleasurists stood 
upon a grassy mound among the romantic hills near Jones 
Dock. This hotel was destroyed by fire on the morning of 
Nov. 2, 1872 ; loss estimated at thirty thousand dollars. The 
natural beauty of the scenery which surrounds this spot, and 



142 TOWN* OF HUNTINGTON. 

its retirement, together with the convenience of approach 
attracts to it during the summer time flocks of excursionists 
and picnickers who come from the crowded city by special 
steamboats or other means, to pass a few pleasant hours in the 
cool retreat of these shaded hills. Several handsome country 
residences standing among the "everlasting hills" on the 
opposite side of the harbor may be seen from this point. 

Upon an irregular peninsula which projects into theliarbor 
from the lower part of the village site the business of demol- 
ishing condemned ships is carried on to a large extent. Some 
large ocean steamships are towed in here and "wrecked" for 
the purpose of saving the old material which they contain. 

The branch railroad which leaves the Long Island road at 
Hicksville runs about two miles south of this village, but the 
nearest station on that line is opposite Huntington, four miles 
southeast of here, or at Syosset four and a half miles south- 
west. It would be reasonable to suppose that a station on 
the railroad opposite this place would have been established, 
as it is evident the interests of the Company would have been 
augmented by such a measure as well as the accommodation 
of the people here more perfectly provided for. But when 
we become more familiar with the manner in which railroad 
enterprises are managed in Suffolk County, we shall learn 
that the Long Island Railroad "Company " has a policy of its 
own, which, to say the least is peculiar, and whose directions 
are not always to be anticipated by the suggestions of reason. 
The omission of a stopping place at a point near Cold Spring 
appears to be consistent with the general management of 
things under this railroad administration. We will mention 
an item which as we understand it, has a close connection 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 143 

with this circumstance and out of which grew the "little 
matter " that gave rise to it. When the branch from Hicks- 
ville was completed as far as Syosset a few wealthy men of 
this neighborhood, belonging to the Jones family, undertook 
the enterprise of continuing the road to Cold Spring. After 
the investment of a ruinous amount of capital in grading the 
road clear to the village, a disagreement arose between the 
"Joneses " and the Long Island "Company " about the termi- 
nus, and the result appears that the latter determined to have 
nothing more to do with the proposed extension, so when the 
branch was continued to Huntington and Northport it left 
Syosset by a more inland route and the village of Cold Spring 
was ignored. The extension thus graded and abandoned 
approaches the village along the west side of the stream and 
mill-ponds. 

It is in order here to say that the Jones family have de- 
scended from some of the early settlers of this neighborhood, 
and still retain the ownership of a large part of the real estate 
and business enterprises of the place, which have been handed 
down through successive members of the family for many 
generations. Not only in wealth but in political, judicial and 
literary standing the representatives of this family have held 
enviable positions. 

The village contains, besides the enterprises already noticed, 
a hotel, four or five stores, three churches, and " last but not 
least," a handsome new two-story school house. This was 
built in 1870, and stands in the eastern part of the village, on 
the Huntington road. A Methodist church, erected in 1812, 
and a Baptist church erected in 1845, are upon the same 
street, nearer the harbor. These are both of moderate di- 



144 TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 

mensions but neat appearance. St. Thomas' Episcopal 
church, a handsome specimen of architecture stands at the 
west end of the lower mill-dam, a few rods west of the line of 
the town. 

The extensive brick yards of Charles H. Jones, and F. M. 
Crossman are upon the eastern shore of the harbor two miles 
below the village of Cold Spring and near the connecting 
point of Lloyd's Neck. 

Lloyd's Neck, belonging to Oyster Bay town, contains 
about three thousand acres of good land. It fell into the 
possession of James Lloyd of Boston in 1679, and from him 
received its name. It has extensive beds of fine white clay 
and yellow ochre. During the revolution the British erected 
a fort upon it and cut and removed nearly a hundred thou- 
sand cords of wood from it. 

Huntington, two miles east of Cold Spring, is the principal 
village of this town. By the last census it contains two thou- 
sand four hundred and thirty-three inhabitants. The 
main centre of the village is about one mile above or south 
of Huntington Harbor, and about a mile and a half north 
of the station bearing its name, on the North Side railroad. 
It is built on a comparatively level step lying between the 
marshes at the head of tide water and the elevated plain 
which is reached by a gentle slope of nearly three miles in 
length. 

In the vicinity of the railroad station we find but few evi- 
dences of civilization or improvement except a hotel, some 
cultivated fields and a few farm houses. The pleasant street 
which runs down the slope to the village is called New York 
Avenue and it strikes Main Street at about right angles near 



TOWN OP HUNTINGTON. 145 

the business centre. The average course of this street is 
east and west, and upon it most of the business concerns of 
the village are located. Around, over, and between these 
gentle hills that beautify the eastern suburbs of the village 
proper, the road winds eastward, then northward with many 
graceful curves for a mile and a half, till it strikes the harbor 
on its eastern shore. Here are a number of docks upon 
which the principal merchandise brought to or carried from 
the village is landed. Quite a settlement is distributed along 
the shore upon the road, and among the rest are several stores 
and shops. On the hills a little further down are several 
handsome residences. Regular sailing packets run between 
this place and New York City. A ferry between here and 
Norwalk Conn., was established in 1764 by Jonathan Titus to 
whom the trustees of the town granted the monopoly of the 
enterprise for the consideration of sixteen pounds a year. 
How long this arrangement existed we are not able to say, 
but it was discontinued many years ago. The progress of 
commercial enterprise is seriously embarrassed by the de- 
ficiency of water in this harbor. The "prospects are bright- 
ening " however in these progressive days, for congress last 
May (1872) appropriated twenty-two thousand, five hundred 
dollars, for the purpose of improving the harbor by digging 
out the mud. 

Brown Brothers' Pottery, located among the settlement on 
the east side of the harbor is one of the interesting features 
of the place. Its origin is ancient, some part of the establish- 
ment having been running since the pre-revolutionary period 
— so says tradition. The buildings in which the business is 
carried on are not in a shape to be easily described but they 



14:6 TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 

probably embrace some seven or eight thousand square feet 
of floor room, for the most part being two floors in height. 
The Brown Brothers' manufacture a great variety of "stone " 
and earthen ware such as jugs, jars, butter-pots, pie platters, 
sauce pans, flower pots, hanging baskets &c. Six or eight 
men are kept at work, two wagons are all the time traveling 
up and down the island, and during the busy seasons of 
spring and autumn sloops are chartered, loaded with goods 
and sent away to different ports along the Connecticut shore 
as well as other places. The process of making the specialties 
of this establishment is very simple, yet could be much better 
described by the hands of the potter with the clay, than with 
pen and ink upon paper. The first thing, however, to be done 
is to mix and temper the clay. For the different articles 
different qualities of material are used and for most of the 
articles clay from different mines have to be mixed together. 
This mixing is done in a huge bin. The clay is then placed 
in the tempering machine, which is an upright iron cylinder 
with an arrangement inside which being turned by horse 
power grinds up the clay and squeezes it out through holes 
about two inches in diameter, near the bottom of the mill. 
Inside these holes a fine wire sieve is placed so as to keep 
back any sticks or small stones that may be in the clay. * The 
doughy mass is then stowed away in a damp cellar where it 
will keep for weeks without losing its temper, and from which 
it is taken as it is needed for use. Nearly all the kinds of 
ware made here are turned on a sort of lathe." This is simply 
a disk, say a foot or more in diameter, made of two inch plank, 
and fastened in a horizontal position on the end of a spindle 
which is kept whirling around by a foot treadle. On the 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 147 

centre of tins disk a lump of clay is placed, and as it spins 
round the hands of the skilled workman are pressed against it 
from outside and inside so as to draw it up to the desired 
shape. In making jugs the handle is made separate and 
stuck on after the jug is finished. Some of the ware is cast in 
moulds of plaster Paris. This process is more tedious and 
consequently about twice as expensive. After the ware is 
formed and sufficiently dried to allow it to be handled with 
safety it is stacked up in large ovens or kilns, to be baked. 
These kilns, of which there are two here, are made of brick, of 
circular form, ten or twelve feet across them and six to eight 
feet high and arched over the top. When they are filled a hot 
fire is started in a pit below, and the heat and flames pass up 
through the mass of ware until it becomes of a white heat. 
The glazing on the outside of stone ware is produced by 
throwing salt into the kiln while the heat is greatest. This 
baking process consumes three hundred cords of wood per 
annum. The Pottery is located immediately on the shore and 
a dock is connected wi th it, so sloops can float up to the 
premises to land wood or load with ware. 

Returning to the business centre we find a number of large 
stores, two hotels, a steam planing mill and the usual assort- 
ment of mechanic shops and dealers in specialties, as well as 
the representatives of the professions. A thimble factory 
was established here in 1837, by E. C. Prime, and it is still 
in operation. Several spacious buildings in this vicinity are 
devoted to business purposes. Among them are Adams' 
Block, Lockitt, Eaton & Co's Block, Empire Block, and Euter- 
pean Hall. Huntington Assembly Rooms is a hall for public 
entertainments on the second floor of Lockitt Eaton & Co's 



148 TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 

Block, and the second floor of Euterpean Hall is devoted to 
like purposes. The former is located on the corner of Wall 
Street which leads down to the west side of the harbor. Near 
the foot of this street is a high bank of sand fronting the 
road-side, and it was in honor of this bank that the street was 
named after the great money centre of New York. 

East of the compact business portions the habitations of 
the farming population are scattered among the hills, over a 
large surface of country. In this neighborhood was the old 
; f'town spot," where the original settlers "pitched their 
tents." Upon one of these beautiful hills stands the First 
Presbyterian church, the lineal snccessor of the first church 
established within the limits of this town. Its history is the 
connecting link that completes the chain by which the pres- 
ent is bound to the early days of more than two hundred 
years ago. As such it is worthy of our notice. The first 
settlement in the town was made about the year 1653, and the 
first church organization is supposed to have been formed 
about the year 1658. The foundation for this supposition is 
the -fact that in that year a minister was first employed here. 
Before any house of worship had been erected the supposi- 
tion is natural that religious services were held in a school 
house. The first church edifice was built in the year 1665, in 
the valley near the site of Prime's thimble factory, a short 
distance west of the present church. As the members of the 
congregation began to increase, it become necessary about 
twenty years after to enlarge and repair it. The church 
organization which occupied this building was of the Congre- 
gational order until the year 1748, when it came under the 
jurisdiction of the Suffolk Presbytery, in which connection it 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 149 

has ever since remained. In 1715 the old church having served 
for half a century was honorably discharged and the frame of 
a new one raised in its place. It appears the " Trustees of 
the Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town " held domin- 
ion over the church property as well as every thing else of 
a public character. In 1717 they sold the old church for five 
pounds. The site of the old church did not agree with the 
wishes of the congregation and all concerned, so the new frame 
which had been raised there was taken down and moved to 
the top of the hill, where being completed it remained in 
service until the Island fell into the hands of the British at 
the commencement of the revolution. By them the house 
was stripped of its inside equipments and used for military 
purposes. The bell which had been an object of admiration 
and pride was carried away, broken and afterwards returned. 
The church itself was finally torn down by the same wanton 
hands and the timber used in the construction of barracks for 
the soldiers quartered in the place. Directly after peace had 
been established again, in 1784 the present church was 
erected on the site of the demolished one. Though thus 
ancient, this noble edifice, well preserved as it is, seems in 
appearance not far behind the times, and if no unlooked for 
calamity befalls it, generations yet to come may worship 
within its time honored walls. This church property is now 
valued at sixteen thousand dollars. 

The first minister of the gospel settled over this primitive 
church was the Bev. William Leverich, one of the early 
settlers and patentees of the town. He is described as a man 
of superior talent and education, a native of England and a 
graduate of Cambridge University. He came to America in 



150 TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 

1633 and arrived at Salem, Mass., Oct. 10th. For many years 
his time was occupied in preaching both to the white settlers 
and among the Indians in different parts of Massachusestts. 
In 1658 he was established in the position which brought him 
to our notice, as the first minister of the first church of Hunt- 
ington. In April 1669 he left his charge here and removed to 
Newtown. 

In 1676, after the church had been without a minister some 
seven years, the Rev. Eliphalet Jones was engaged and contin- 
ued here through the remainder of his life, though in his 
declining years he was relieved by an assistant. His labors 
here continued for more than half a century, and he died at a 
ripe old age somewhere about the year 1731. He was followed 
by Bev. Ebenezer Prime, a native of Milford Conn., and 
graduate of Yale College, who had been employed as assistant 
to Mr. Jones in 1719 and installed as colleague in 1723. The 
church organization at that time consisted of forty-one males 
and twenty-seven females. Mr. Prime was the progenitor of 
an illustrious family whose representatives of the present day 
occupy conspicuous positions among the citizens of this 
village or in the literary circles of the world . He spent his 
life among this congregation. It fell to his lot to be at 
the head of this church and about closing his long and useful 
life during the tribulous times of the revolution. After hav- 
ing seen his church desecrated and his own house taken 
possession of, and its contents mutilated or destroyed by the 
hand of a hostile stranger, Mr. Prime was gathered to the 
fathers in the autumn of 1779 while the invader was still 
making havoc upon his property and upon the scanty 
rewards of honest toil. 



TOWN OF HUNTTNGNON. 151 

Among the hills, about half way from the Harbor to the 
eastern part of the village, stands the St. John's Episcopal 
church, a handsome structure built in 1862, at a cost of near 
ten thousand dollars. On the same site an Episcopal church, 
was built sometime between the years 1750 and '60, and in 
1767 placed in charge of Rev. James Greaton. His death 
which took place about six years afterward, caused a vacancy 
which was scarcely filled in half a century. 

Near this is a neat little African Methodist church estab- 
lished here over thirty years ago, and valued now at about 
fifteen hundred dollars. The building was originally in- 
tended for a school house and has been enlarged and im- 
proved. 

The first Methodist Episcopal church in this village was 
built in 1825. In 1864 it was succeeded by a new one which 
stands on the Main Street a little west of the business part of 
the village. This church, with the lot on which it stands is 
estimated to be worth ten thousand dollars. 

The Baptist church erected in 1869, at a cost of about six 
thousand dollars, stands in the southwestern part of the vil- 
lage, not far from the Methodist. 

On the south side of Main Street a little east of the com- 
mercial centre stands the Second Presbyterian church, a 
noble building placed here in 1865, at a cost of sixteen thou- 
sand dollars. The belfry of this church contains the town 
clock, whose sonorous tones remind us every hour of the 
Preacher's words, that there is "a time to everj purpose under 
the heaven." 

In 1837 a Universalist church was built on Main Street, 
near the north end of Burying Hill, a short distance east of 



152 TOWN OF HUNTINGTON". 

the Second Presbyterian site. In 1870 a new one was built 
on a site a little off Main Street on New York Avenue. This 
is a handsome and commodious edifice, of the Gothic order, 
and cost nine thousand five hundred dollars. 

The Eoman Catholic church stands on Main Street in the 
western suburbs of the village, and is among if not abso- 
lutely the largest church edifice in the place. It is built of 
brick, after the modern style of church architecture, and cost 
about eighteen thousand dollars. It was erected in 1867, and 
it occupies a beautiful site, on rising ground ,in the quiet 
borders of the village. A short distance west of this, the road 
rises a hill, from the top of which a good view of the village 
and its surroundings can be had. This road being the 
continuation of Main Street, leads west to Cold Spring about 
two miles. 

Huntington may well boast of its churches. Of the eight 
churches we have noticed, six have been built within the last 
ten years, and according to the estimates of value which we 
have received on them, we find that sixty-nine thousand five 
hundred dollars have been appropriated within the time men- 
tioned to the purpose of church building in this village. 

Within sight of the business centre of the village, a little 
to the east, and just past the Second Presbyterian church #is 
the old " Burying Hill," a mound rising from the street, and 
containing four or five acres. This spot is to the people of 
Huntington sacred soil, for in its bosom sleeps the ashes of 
their fathers of many generations. Treading the rank sod 
that covers this congregation of the dead, we seem to breathe 
the atmosphere of two centuries ago. The blue water of 
yonder harbor sparkles in the sunlight of to-day " just as of 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON, 153 

old," and the summer breeze sings through these cedar tops 
the same strain it hummed in the ears of mourning friends 
who came here two hundred years ago, to deposit the earthly 
remains of departed loved ones beneath the soil of a wilder- 
ness and a strange land. 

During the latter part of the revolutionary war an earth- 
work fortification covering some two acres was thrown up 
in the centre of this burying ground, ana the timber of the 
demolished church used here in the construction of bar- 
racks. The graves were leveled down and :he tomb-stones 
used in the construction of rude ovens and fire-places 
for temporary use. Many of them were broken, and some 
bear at the present day the marks of British and brut- 
ish violence. The leader under whose direction these 
acts of insult to the graves and memories of the inno- 
cent dead were committed was one Benjamin Thompson, 
a Massachusetts Tory, who had command over about five hun- 
dred British soldiers quartered here. The people of the 
town, when they learned of Thompson's intention to erect a 
fort in their grave-yard petitioned him to spare them the 
sight of such sacrilege, but their protests were in vain. 

In addition to the uncalled for outrage already noticed, Dr. 
Prime in his history adds : — "It would seem that during the 
whole war, no stone was left unturned to annoy the persons 
and injure the property of the inhabitants. Their orchards 
were cut down, their fences burned, and the scanty crops 
which they were able to raise under these embarrassments, 
were often seized by lawless force for the use of the soldiers, 
or recklessly destroyed to gratify their malice. The aged 
pastor of the congregation, while he lived, was peculiarly 



154 TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 

obnoxious, on account of his known patriotic views and feel- 
ings. When the troops first entered the town, the officers 
housed their horses in the pastor's stable, and littered them 
with sheaves of unthreshed wheat, while they cursed the ' old 
rebel,' as they were pleased to call him. They then took 
possession of his hot se, for their quarters, breaking the furni- 
ture, which they did not need, tearing leaves out of his most 
valuable books, or entirely destroying one volume of a set, as 
if to render them valueless, without taking the trouble to 
destroy the whole. " 

The cutting down of orchards and tearing up or burning of 
fences, and seizing of crop's are acts which though appar- 
ently outrageous in the abstract, may be viewed in a light to 
appear comparatively excusable when looked upon as meas- 
ures of war, but the malicious destruction of private property 
of really small value to any one else than the owner, and out- 
rages upon the feelings of the living and the graves of the 
deed, such as we have noticed, are exhibitions of refined 
dfjvilishness for which the pretext of war is no excuse. The 
''aged pastor" in the above quotation was the Eev. Eben- 
ezer Prime, grand-sire of the historian, of whom we have 
already spoken. His death occurred while the British troops 
occupied the town, but before the fortifications had been 
thrown up in the burying ground. His grave was enclosed 
by the intrenchment, and the brave commander, who led such 
a brilliant charge upon an army of grave-stones pitched his 
tent near by it, so he could have the pleasure of walking over 
it whenever his patriotic feelings prompted him to do so. 
From this silent congregation, where we seem to hold con- 
verse with spirits of the past, about two minutes walk brings 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 155 

lis back to the village centre, where the embodied spirits of 
the present are mingling in the busy scenes of every day life. 

Just south of the village, and about half way up the slope 
which leads to the railroad station is the Rural Cemetery of 
Huntington. This is beautifully laid off and ornamented, and 
occupies a hill-side to the right as you go up from the village. 
An arch over the gateway bears upon it in characters which 
"he that runneth may read," the solemn and impressive 
reminder, " The Hour Cometh.'" The general beauty of this 
cemetery, and the completeness of its arrangements, is not 
second to any other like institution in the county. It con- 
tains a great number and variety of handsome and costly 
monuments. The association to which it belongs was organ- 
ized March 10, 1851, and at first purchased ten acres of 
ground of the estate of Abel K. Conklin. A few years later 
four acres more were added, so the plot now contains fourteen 
acres, from which some three or four hundred burial plots 
have been sold. 

In the eastern part of the village, on the opposite side of 
the street from the First Presbyterian church, and upon the 
summit of the same beautiful hill, stands the institution to 
which perhaps above all others the people of Huntington 
point with honorable pride — the Huntington Union School. 
Upon this site an academy was erected in 1794, which 
served its "day and generation " with average success, until it 
was removed to make room for the present building. This 
was erected in the summer of 1858, and that year, in November 
the school was opened. The average attendance at the com- 
mencement was about three hundred. The building was 
enlarged in 1870, and its present dimensions are fifty- three by 



156 TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 

seventy-five feet on the ground. It is a frame building of 
three high stories and contains ten large rooms besides a 
number of recitation rooms, cloak rooms, hall and library. 
The first floor is occupied by the Primary and Secondary 
departments ; the second floor by the Intermediate depart- 
ment and Grammar school, and the third floor by the High 
school. This has a cabinet of chemical apparatus and a 
library of eight hundred and seventy volumes besides an 
encyclopedia of forty volumes. The course of study pursued 
in the school is arranged to be completed by an attendance of 
twelve years ; the pupil entering at the age of five and gradu- 
ating at seventeen years of age. Since 1862, when the first 
class graduated, seventy-one pupils of this school have com- 
pleted the course with honors. The average attendance of 
scholars now is nearly five hundred. The school employs 
twelve teachers, including the Principal, and their united 
salaries amount to six thousand and fifty dollars per 
annum. The present value of the building and its appur- 
tenances is about twenty thousand dollars. The institution 
enjoys the proceeds of a legacy bequeathed in 1841 by the 
Hon. Nathaniel Potter for educational purposes. The origi- 
nal sum of endowment was seven thousand four hundred 
dollars, one half of which, by a stipulation in the will, should 
remain at interest till the amount should reach ten thousand 
dollars, which time arrived but a few years since. A similar 
sum was in like manner left by the same benevolent individ- 
ual for the benefit of the First Presbyterian church. 

The town poor formerly occupied a comfortable house and 
a small farm near the village. About twelve years ago the 
site was exchanged for one at Long Swamp. 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 157 

The Huntington Mutual Fire Insurance Co. was organized 
April 2d, 1838, by charter of the legislature for twenty years. 
March 14th, 1857, the charter was amended and extended for 
twenty years longer. Its risks are confined mostly to this 
town, and those only on isolated property. The present 
amount of risks is $197,596, and its assets $17,947. The 
company has met with no losses since 1864. 

A Fire Engine and Hook and Ladder Company combined 
was organized here in 1843, under the general state law. 
About the year 1860 it was reorganized under a special law. 
It has about forty members. 

Jephtha Lodge of Free Masons is a flourishing institution, 
numbering upwards of a hundred members. It was instituted 
June 21st, 1860, since which time three other lodges have 
been organized from its territory and membership. 

A newspaper called the American Eagle was started here in 
1821, by Samuel A. Seabury. In 1825 its name was changed 
to The Long Island Journal of Philosophy and Cabinet of Va- 
riety. Under this name it was issued monthly by Samuel 
Fleet. In 1827 it was changed to The Portico, and in 1829 
discontinued altogether. The Long Islander was started in 
July, 1838, by W. Whitman. It is a seven column folio, pub- 
lished every Friday by G. H. Shepard. The Suffolk Bidlelin 
was started by David C. Brush in 1847 under the name Suffolk 
Democrat In 1859 it was removed to Babylon where it was 
published by Charles Jayne. In 1865 it returned to Hunting- 
ton and was issued under its present name, and edited by 
Charles B. Street. It is a n^at looking eight column paper, 
containing the general and local news, at $2.00 per annum. 
The North Side Herald was started in September, 1872, by 



158 TOWN OF HUNTIOGTON. 

Wm. L. Cook & Co. It has recently been removed to Islip. 

West Neck lies northwest from this village. It is an exten- 
sive tract of rich rolling farm-land. It is thinly settled and 
contains a number of splendid farms. Down the road which 
opens through it in a northwest direction from Huntington a 
good round three miles brings you to the west side of Cold 
Spring Harbor where brick-making is extensively carried on 
by Charles F. Jones and F. M. Crossman. These two firms 
employ about one hundred hands in the business, and manu- 
facture say fifteen to twenty million bricks a year. Their 
works are located on the harbor near the isthmus which con- 
nects Lloyd's Neck with West Neck. 

Eckerson's Brick Works are located in a rich mine of clay 
of superior quality, on the shore of Huntington Bay and 
among the hills of East Neck, two miles northeast from this 
village. 

Centreport is a cozy retreat among the hills about three 
miles east of the village of Huntington. Its location is at the 
head of Centreport Harbor, known in olden times as Little 
Cow Harbor. 

From Green Lawn, which is the railroad station representing 
this village we follow the road down, down, down about one 
and a half miles of sand hill, twisting this way and turning 
that, passing here and there a dwelling, till the landscape view 
unfolds to us one of the prettiest little sheets of water to be 
found upon the borders of the island. This road by which we 
approach from the station continues down the west side of the 
harbor, and it is on this road that most of the habitations are 
located. These dwelling sites are pleasant ones, overlooking 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 159 

as they do the harbor and the hills of Little Neck which rise 
on its eastern shore. 

The harbor varies in width from a quarter to half a mile, 
and its inland extremity is nearly two miles distant from its 
confluence with Newport Bay. Though perhaps not one of 
the best for commercial purposes it is a handsome sheet of 
water, and surrounded as it is by these lovely hills which 
make the beauty of the landscape, we see no reason why it 
should not go forward with the march of time, and become a 
popular and attractive summer resort for our city neighbors, 
who wish to rusticate among the northern hills of Long 
Island. 

Nearly half a mile of the upper end of the harbor is divided 
from that below by an artificial dam across it, and upon this 
dam a grist-mill is located. Power for running this mill is 
furnished by the action of the tide. 

In a green valley in the southwest part of the village is 
another mill-site on the dam of a fresh water pond which is 
supplied from springs in the adjacent hills. 

Just below the tide mill dam is a dock, where vessels of 
three hundred tons capacity may come. A packet sloop 
makes one or two trips a week between here and New York. 
Immense quantities of manure are brought from New York 
by vessel and landed here for the farmers of the neighbor- 
hood. There are two stores in this part of the village and 
another over in the southeast border. The population of 
Centreport is about two hundred and fifty. 

There are two small churches in the place; both Methodist, 
of different sects. One of these stands on the west side of 
the harbor in the heart of the village, and the other a littlo 



160 TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 

distance from the southeastern shore, half a mile or more 
apart. Near the latter, which is on the road to Northport, we 
come upon the most refreshing evidence of civilization the 
place affords. This is a handsome school-house, standing in 
a pleasant grove of cedar trees. It was built last winter and 
is of comfortable dimensions. This building is neatly finish- 
ed up and painted, furnished all round with nice green window 
blinds and surmounted with an observatory. 

Keeping the road eastward from this village as it winds 
among the hills across the head of Little Neck, about a mile 
brings us within sight of the village of Northport with its ro- 
mantic surroundings. The road from which we gain this de- 
lightful prospect of water, hills and village, passes over the 
mounds which skirt the southwestern extremity of Northport 
Harbor which in olden times was burdened with the uncouth 
name of Great Cow Harbor. Another mile brings us round 
to the village, which lies upon the eastern shore. Among the 
first indications that we are approaching an inhabited centre 
we pass a christian burying-ground occupying a hill on 
our right. Half a mile south, or southeast from here, but not 
within sight of this road is another — the village cemetary. A 
little further on we pass a small grist-mill standing on the 
left, which is something of a curiosity in its way. The driv- 
ing wheel of this mill is an overshot, about five feet wide and 
twenty five feet in diameter. It receives water by a wooden 
tube about a foot in diameter, which runs over the highway 
from a pond upon the top of a hill several rods to the right. 
The supply of water being limited the mill can only be run 
six or seven hours a day. 

From here the road leads along a steep side hill thirty 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 161 

to fifty feet above the base which skirts high water mark, and 
along the outside of this road there is nothing to protect a 
person or animal from stepping, stumbling, plunging, or in 
any other way being precipitated down the wild precipice. 
Here and there the face of the declivity is covered with trees 
and brambles. To us it seems remarkable that in the time of 
some freshet this narrow step is not washed away and torn 
by running water so as to be made impassable. On the har- 
bor below us are numberless fleets of small boats, some intend- 
ed for business and others for pleasure. On the rising 
ground above U3 pleasant sited dwellings are thinly scattered 
along the road-side till we come into the heart of the village. 
The Northport House, is to the traveler at the close of day 
one of the most interesting features of the place. The road 
by which we have entered leads directly up in front of it. 
Here is the focal point of the village. Wharves, ship-yards, 
lumber-yards, stores and mechanic shops are huddled in live- 
ly confusion about this point. Main Street starts here and 
runs up a moderately inclined plane, eastward, and upon the 
first half mile of it most of the business concerns of the vil- 
lage are located. Bay View Avenue runs north from the cen- 
tral point mentioned above, and its course lies from ten to 
twenty rods from the shore, and elevated fifty feet more or 
less above the level of the water. On both sides it is lined 
with neat looking dwellings for a distance of three fourths of 
a mile. It is appropriately named. It is like a grand balco- 
ny from almost any point of which we can look over the 
whole harbor with its shipping and its scores of little pleas- 
ure boats skimming hither and thither upon the face of the 
smooth water. The bluffs of Eaton's Neck in the northern 



162 TOWN OP HUNTINGTON. 

distance, and the hills and valleys of Little Neck across to the 
west add variety and beauty to the scene. 

Northport is without question the most flourishing village 
in this town. In fact it is hardly surpassed in its rapid 
growth by any other village on the north side of the county. 
Forty years ago the place only contained eight dwellings. 
Now it has three ship-yards, two hotels, six or eight general 
stores, dealers in specialties of dry goods, drugs and medi- 
cines, millinery, boots and shoes, saddlery, paints and oils, 
lumber, etc., a good representation of the professions and 
trades, and a population by the last census of one thousand 
and sixty. It has a district school, numbering one hundred 
and forty pupils, and employing two teachers. The present 
building stands on Main Street and though of apparently 
comfortable size is considered too small for the purpose, and 
the question of supplying its place with a new one is being 
discussed. The enterprise of this village has quite recently 
been directed to the matter of church building. Within the 
year past a new Methodist Episcopal church has been com- 
pleted. This is a large handsome building, standing on the 
Main Street near the school, and on the same lot on which 
stands the old church of the same denomination. The walls 
of the old church are of brick, and the structure was erected 
about the year 1833. A short distance further up the street 
stands a small church erected a few years ago and occupied 
by a society of New School Presbyterians. A much larger 
edifice is now in process of erection by the united Presbyte- 
rian society. Its location is on the same lot. 

Northport has a flonrisliing Lodge of Free Masons, num- 
bering about forty members. It has only been instituted a 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 163 

few years, its original members having withdrawn from the 
Lodge at Huntington. A Division of the Sons of Temper- 
ance meets every week. They number one hundred and 
thirty-two members. 

Ship-building is carried on to considerable extent here. 
There are five sets of marine railways, and three ship-yards 
and from these, barks, as large as six or seven hundred tons 
capacity are launched. 

Great quantities of manure are brought from New York 
and landed at the docks for the farmers of the back region. 
A packet sloop plies between here and New York. 

Large quantities of clams, oysters and eels are taken from 
the flats and beds of this harbor. These bivalve fisheries give 
employment to a great many people, and no doubt they have 
had a large influence in building up tLe place. The oysters 
of this harbor are among the finest in the world. 

Over on the west side of the harbor, a short distance from 
its mouth is a valuable bed of clay and sand owned and 
worked by the Northport Fire Clay and Sand Co., of which 
Mr. Israel Carll is the chief partner and manager. The 
different materials found in this bank are used for a variety 
of purposes. First the clay, which is the most valuable, and 
of a very fine quality, is used for making fire-brick, linings 
for stoves, heaters, furnaces &c, and mixed with other mate- 
rials it is used for flower pots and various other kinds of 
pottery. A. very fine sand from these banks is used in the 
manufacture of French China ware. This sand as it comes 
from the deposit is of a bluish color and as fine as flour, but 
after being exposed to great heat in the potter's kiln it be- 
comes a pearly white, and is used in facing or glazing the 



164: TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 

ware. The clay is sold at $4 a ton and the other materials at 
from $1 to $2 a ton, delivered on board of vessels here. The 
mine lies in convenient proximity to the shore of the harbor, 
and a dock is connected with it where vessels can lay along- 
side to load. Its products are sent to all parts of the country, 
from Maine to Virginia. This bed covers more or less of the 
area of fifty acres, and in some places it is thirty to forty feet 
deep. Fifteen to twenty men and ten horses are kept at 
work, here and twelve to fifteen thousand tons of clay and 
sand are shipped annually. This property is now valued at 
$50,000. About six years ago it was bought by the present 
proprietors for a little more than $14,000. 

On the eastern shore of Northport Bay, a mile or more 
north of the village the beach sand is of such a sharp gritty 
nature that it is valuable to stone cutters, and is much used 
by them for sawing, dressing, and polishing marble. For 
these purposes about 10,000 tons per annum are shipped from 
here by Mr. Albert Arthur who has the management of the 
enterprise. 

Northport Station, at the terminus of the Northport Branch 
Kailroad, lies upon the plain level, about one and a half miles 
southeast of the village, and two miles from the junction of 
the Smithtown & Port Jefferson railroad Avith this branch. 

Vernon Valley is a pleasant little farming district contain- 
ing perhaps one hundred and fifty inhabitants located about 
two miles east of North port, to which it is a sort of tributary. 
It was formerly called Bed Hook. It contains a Presbyterian 
church and a school. The church was built here in 1829, 
having been removed from Fresh Pond its former site. 

One and a half miles northeast of this is the hamlet of 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 165 

Fresh Pond, lying on the sound shore, in the northeast cor- 
ner of this town and extending partly into Smithtown. It 
takes its name from a body of water which puts in from the 
sound on the line between the towns. It has a store and a 
post-office. Two extensive brick yards are located upon the 
sound shore at this place. These are the Long Island Brick 
Yards, and the works of Provost Brothers. The latter use 
steam power for tempering the clay and moulding the 
brick. 

Just west of here Crab Meadow is a marshy region drained 
by a creek which empties into the sound. In this vicinity 
are about a dozen farm houses. 

Eaton's Neck lies between Northport Bay and the sound. 
It is connected with the eastern part of the town by a narrow 
sand beach two miles long. The Neck contains about 2,000 
acres, one half of which is owned by Cornelius De Lamater, a 
wealthy iron founder of New York. He has a fine country 
seat here and indulges to considerable extent in stock raising. 
A bed of moulding sand is found in the central part of the 
Neck, from which supplies of sand are taken for use in the 
foundry of the owner. The remaining portion of the Neck is 
occupied by six or eight farmers. The soil is good. Upon 
the extreme northern point stands a light house, built in 
1798 at a cost of $9,750. It was re-fitted in 1857 and has a 
fixed light which is visible seventeen miles distant. The 
tower is fifty-six feet high and it stands upon elevated ground 
which makes the light one hundred and thirty-feet above the 
sea level. 

Green Lawn is a rail-road station on the Northport Branch 
two miles and a half east of Huntington Station. It is a 



166 TOWN OP HUNTINGTON. 

pleasant locality, on the elevated plain, and consists of a 
hotel, two stores, a "Real Estate Exchange," a blacksmith 
shop, and about a dozen houses, with several hundred acres 
of rich farming land. From this neighborhood the hills of 
the interior present a fine landscape view. 

About a mile south from here is a little rural vicinity called 
Cuba, and a mile and a half further still and bearing a little 
eastward is a scattered settlement of farmers lately named 
Elwood. 

The population and dwellings are so scattered over a 
•greater part of this town [Huntington] that it is a difficult 
matter to decide just where one village or hamlet leaves off 
and the next one commences. To the best of our knowledge 
and ability, however, we will fix the territorial dimensions of 
Elwood at two miles square. This is occupied by thirty 
dwellings and inhabitants in proportion. Within its limits 
are a school and a Methodist church. A steam grist-mill was 
started here a few years ago, but has been removed for want 
of support. 

Adjoining Elwood on the northeast is another district of 
similar characteristics and proportions, and the description of 
one will answer very well in a general way for the other. 
This is known by the name of Clay Pitts or the modernized 
Nynonyms of Genola and Fair View. Which of the two names 
will be the eccepted one is to be decided by time. We think 
the latter is perfectly appropriate but the former looks more 
like a name. 

This place is located about three miles north of Comae 
and not far from the same distance southeast from Northport 
It occupies a part of the ' ' Eastern Purchase " which is here 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. / 167 

divided into quite regular parallelograms by avenues crossing 
each other at right angles at disdances of half to three fourths 
of a mile apart. It lies on the eastern border of the tow clen. 

A large proportion of the land in this section is cleared 
and divided into well regulated and productive farms. The 
roads all through here are fenced with the old-fashioned 
"Virginia" rail fences — a good style where timber is 
plenty, as it is here. The soil is good, and the roads are 
level, smooth and hard — just right for good driving and 
hauling heavy loads. 

West Hills, located about six miles inland from Cold Spring, 
is a vicinity of about thirty houses scattered among the 
broken hills which occupy the western part of this township. 
Among these hills We find the highest ground upon the 
island. From their summits beautiful prospects of the 
sound, the ocean, and distant parts of the island are pre- 
sented. Jayne's Hill, also known .as Oakley's Hill, and 
locally as " the high hill," one of this group, is three hundred 
and fifty-four feet above tide water in the sound. This is 
the highest point of land on Long Island. Though the soil 
here is comparatively sandy, "numerous springs have their 
origin in these hills, that send forth unfailing streams, 
which after running a considerable distance, form ponds that 
are evaporated by the sun or disappear in the sand." 

A small Methodist church which stands on the " turnpike," 
or middle country road, was built in 1844. 

A neat school-house was erected in 1871, upon the site of a 
former one which had been burned down a short time before. 

This settlement has the honor of having been the birth- 
place and home of the Hon. Silas "Wood, the first historian of 



IG8 TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 

Long Island, to whose researches later writers are much 
indebted for items concerning the settlement and early con- 
dition of the different towns. 

Mellville, formerly called Sweet Hollow, is a pleasant rural 
village of about forty dwellings, located a mile further south, 
in a more open but rolling section of country. It contains a 
store, a Presbyterian church erected in 1829, and a neat 
school-house erected during the summer of 1872. In its postal 
relations it is tributary to Farmingdale, rive miles south-west, 
and just beyond the limits of the county. The village Ceme- 
tery, an unincorporated institution, occupies a beautiful hill 
near the Presbyterian church and contains about one acre of 
ground which is tastefully ornamented and arranged. An 
arch over the gateway displays the suggestive words, "Life, 
how short." 

A Methodist church, located on the road to Farmingdale, 
about two miles from here, was erected in 1845. This is in 
the southwest corner of the town. 

Half Hollows, a scattered neighborhood located among the 
hills, on the southern border of this town and about four 
miles southeast of Mellville, consists of about twenty houses 
and a district school : also two brick yards which are noticed 
elsewhere. 

Long Swamp is a locality surrounded by hills, near the 
geographical centre of this town, lying between the West 
Hills and Dix Hills, about two miles from either. This is the 
site of an ancient tavern which stood on the old "post road." 
The Huntington town poor house was located here for several 
years previous to the abolishment of that institution in the 
different towns of this county. 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 169 

Dix Hills, on the same road, and about six miles south of 
Centreport is a vicinage of perhaps twenty houses. 

Comae, (sometimes spelled Commack, and formerly called 
Winne-Comack*) is a pleasant cross-road village, situated in 
the eastern part of the town on the middle country road, or 
Smithtown turnpike, and partly within the bounds of Smith- 
town. It is an ancient settlement, and is located in the midst 
of a rich agricultural district. The surface is level, or slight- 
ly rolling, and the soil heavy, and nearly every acre improved 
and under a high state of cultivation. The village contains 
two hundred and fifty inhabitants, two churches, two schools, 
two stores, two hotels, a post-office, and the celebrated horse 
training establishment of Carll Burr. 

A Congregational church originally placed here in 1831, by 
a sect of Methodists called Stilwellites, stands in the southern 
part, on the road to Deer Park. It was moved here from 
Centreport where it had been built several years before. 

The first Methodist church erected in Suffolk County, and 
the second one on the island, stands near the centre of the 
village. It was erected in 1789, and rebuilt in 1838. 

* The Winnecomock Patent we find occasionally mentioned in the records and 
documents, but have been unable to leai-n its exact location or size. A patent ia 
supposed to have been given for it by Lord Cornbury in 1703, whether original 
or confirmatory does not appear. 



CHAPTER IX. 

TOWN OP BABYLON — HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. 

The towA of Babylon was formed from the southern part of 
Huntington, by an Act of the Legislature, passed March 3, 
1872. It lies in the southwest corner of the county, and com- 
prises a territory of rather more than six miles square. It is 
bounded on the west by the town of Oyster Bay, in Queens 
county ; on the north by Huntington ; on the east by Islip ; 
and south by the Great South Bay, or perhaps more properly 
the Atlantic Ocean. The bay opposite this town is shoal, and 
contains a great number of islands, the most of which are cov- 
ered with salt grass. The largest is Cedar Island. That part 
ot Oak Island Beach, and as many of these islands as lie with- 
in the range of the lines of the town belong to it. The south 
side is divided into several "necks," by a number of creeks 
and small streams which empty into the bay. Mills are located 
upon three of these streams. The surface is in some parts 
slightly undulating, but for the most comparatively level. The 
south "country road," which runs at an average distance of 
about one mile from the bay, and parallel with the average 
course of the shore, is inhabited all along, and also forms the 
principal street in the two large villages through which it 
passes. The central and northen parts are mostly covered with 
* 'scrnb-oaks. " The Long Island Railroad runs parallel with 
the north line of the town and about one mile from it. The 
South Side Railroad runs through the southern part, four 
miles from the other. 



TOWN OF BABYLON. 171 

The lands included within the bounds of this town were 
purchased of the Indians, in small parcels, at different times, 
from the year 1657 to the year 1705, and were included in the 
different Huntington patents from the colonial governors. In 
a few instances purchases were made by individuals on 
their own behalf, but most of the lands were bought by per- 
sons deputized for the purpose by the people of the town, 
[Huntington] who then held the lands in common, or divided 
them among individual members of the miniature colony as 
occasion demanded. The western part was occupied by the 
Marsapeague Indians, and the eastern part by the Secatogues. 
The first purchases consisted only of meadow lands along the 
shore of the bay, and from this fact we infer that no settle- 
ment on the south side was made previous to the year 1689, 
when the first purchases of upland were made. 

The present limits of the town of Babylon comprise about 
twenty-five thousand acres, and it contains a population 
of about four thousand five hundred. This town is 
probably increasing more rapidly in population and improve- 
ments, in proportion to its size, than any other town in the 
county. It has received large installments of population and 
enterprise from the city, and is a popular rendezvous for 
sporting men and pleasurists during the summer. 

Deer Park is a station on the Long Island Railroad in the 
northeast part. It contains one store, a district school, and 
about a dozen houses. About half a mile southeast of here 
Edward Freeld Esq. has a farm of nine hundred acres. Up- 
on this place are spacious buildings. A trout pond has been 
established upon a stream which rises in this neighborhood 
and flows to the bay through the western suburbs of Babylon 



172 TOWN OF BABYLON. 

village. The country seat of August Belmont is upon this 
stream, just below the one noticed. 

In the lower part of Half Hollows, about two miles north- 
west from Deer Park, and near the north line of the town, are 
the brick yards of Walker & Conklin, and W. H. & E. A. 
Bartlett. The first employs ten to twelve hands, and make 
about a million bricks a year. The second make from six to 
seven hundred thousand, during the season. Both use horse 
power for grinding and tempering, and are in operation only 
during the summer. The site of these yards is on a marshy 
plain, at the base of high, steep hills. A little brook runs 
through the premises, supplying the necessary water, and 
beds of clay and sand are found in convenient proximity. 
Bricks from these yards are shipped to distant points by way 
of the Long Island Railroad, from a switch on the line oppo- 
site, and about half a mile from them. 

Amityville, a handsome village of six hundred inhabitants, 
lies mostly upon West Neck, in the extreme southwest corner 
of the town. It contains five stores, a few mechanic shops, 
two hotels, and several neat looking residences. The village 
comprises two almost distinct settlements, located about half 
a mile apart, the upper one upon the South Side Railroad, 
and the lower one upon the turnpike, or south country road. 
A nice, large, two story school house completed during the 
past season, [1872] stands about midway between the two 
settlements. The school contains about one hundred and fif- 
ty scholars. A pleasant oak grove on the road a little below 
the station is used for picnics, celebrations and other out- 
door meetings. The Revere House, built in 1870 is a hand- 
some hotel, surmounted by a Mansard roof, and stands 



TOWN OF BABYLON. 173 

near the railroad depot. This part of the village is building 
up very rapidly. In the upper part the Methodists have a 
chapel, which is under the care of the church in the lower 
village. 

The lower settlement, upon the turnpike, is the original 
village site. This was formerly called Huntington South. An 
ancient saw and grist mill is located upon a stream in the 
eastern part. A trout pond is being arranged upon this 
stream. The creek into which it empties is navigable for 
small sail-boats, a short distance up. The South Side Hotel, 
a colossal building, intended for the accommodation of sum- 
mer boarders, stands in a pleasant locality in the centre of the 
villlage. 

A Methodist Episcopal church was established here at an 
early date. A second building was erected in 1845, on a site 
a short distance west of the South Side Hotel, near the resi- 
dence of Woodhull Skidmore, Esq. Some four or five years 
ago it was moved to its present site on the road leading to the 
R. R. Station, and enlarged to its present accommodating 
capacity. 

From this village east, six miles to Babylon, the "turn- 
pike " is a pleasant drive, through a continuous though scat- 
tered settlement of residences and farm-houses. On this 
route we pass over the "necks" Copiag, Neguntatogue and 
Santepogue, besides a number of others whose Indian names 
we have not learned. 

A little south of the geographical centre of this town, and 
in the midst of the wild scrubby plain, stands the fairy city 
of Breslau, a living, speaking monument of what enterprise 
can do towards taming the dreary wilderness even upon the 



174 TOWN OF BABYLON. 

slandered soil of Long Island. Less than four years ago the 
whole tract upon which this settlement is being built was an 
unbroken sea of scrub-oaks, with scarce a footprint of civili- 
zation to relieve the solitary monotony which met the gaze as 
far as the eye could reach. Here the foxes and the rabbits 
and the wild> birds found a happy retreat, where they were 
seldom molested by the intrusions of mankind. But a wave 
or two of the progressive element that pervades the nine- 
teenth century has washed over this spot, and transformed 
the dreary waste into a beautiful village site. While as yet 
not half the ground is cleared of the "grubs " which covered 
the face of it, spacious avenues have been opened and the 
foundations of a German city planted here. It already has a 
number of large, handsome buildings, a population of about 
1,200, with churches, schools, hotels, factories, workshops, 
breweries, lager beer saloons, gin-shops, and all the other 
usual accessories of a civilized, progressive community. 

The tract upon which Breslau is located covers an area of 
nearly two miles square, and was first made ready for settle- 
ment by laying out avenues and building-lots upon it in 1869. 
The initial part of it was owned by Thomas Welwood, the 
founder of the settlement. In dividing it up into building 
lots, open squares were reserved here and there for churches, 
schools, cemeteries, parks and similar public purposes. Near 
the centre a large triangular piece is intended for the loca- 
tion of a city hall and court-house whenever such a building 
shall become necessary. The principal streets are one hun- 
dred to one hundred and sixty-six feet wide, and the less 
important ones from fifty to eighty feet. The principal ave- 
nues are laid out on courses diverging from the central part 



TOWN OF BABYLON. 175 

of the tract in different directions. The surface here is 
almost a perfect level, making a beautiful site to build a vil- 
lage or city upon, and the soil is just a suitable mixture to 
urnish a foundation for smooth, hard roads. 

The inauguration of this settlement was celebrated with 
great festivities, on the 6th of June, 1870. On this occasion 
thousands of people from the city, who contemplated pur- 
chasing lots here, visited the premises and made their 
selections. Up to the close of that day about eight thousand 
city lots had been sold. Improvements began to be made 
immediately after that, and buildings were soon in process of 
erection. The settlement now contains about two hundred 
houses which are scattered here and there over the tract. 
The South Side Railroad runs through, near the centre of it 
and a depot and post-office have been established upon this. 
Nearly all the buildings are wooden ones, of .good size and 
neat appearance, many of them three stories high, and some 
really elegant in style and finish. They are almost invariably 
fashioned after the city plan ; with fiat roofs, and showy 
fronts, which are set on the line of the street, and the whole 
building shaped to correspond with the shape of the lot on 
which it stands. A three story building, with a city finished 
front, and plate-glass windows, towering up in the very midst 
of a groundwork of lusty scrub-oaks, is a picture in which 
the characters of city and country are strangely and curiously 
blended, but such a picture is no uncommon thing to meet 
with here. 

The settlers of this village are mostly Germans, who, 
though the most of them appear to be familiar with English, 
still prefer to use their native language in their conversations 



176 TOWN OF BABYLON. 

among themselves, as well as in their schools. Three 
churches have been erected in the settlement, a Roman Cath- 
olic in the southern part, a Baptist in the eastern part, and a 
Protestant Reformed near the centre. These are all hand- 
some edifices of medium size, though the latter is considera- 
bly in advance of the average, both in respect to size and 
elegance of finish. Near the last is a small two story build- 
ing, originally erected and used as a depot on the railroad, 
but afterwards moved to its present site, about a quarter of a 
mile north of the track, and fitted up for a school. The 
building is too small for the purpose, and a new one will 
shortly be erected. The number of children to be educated 
in this district is estimated at two hundred and sixty. Two 
large hotels are located near the railroad dejoot. These are 
Gleste's on the south side of the track, and Nehring's on the 
north side. About a quarter of a mile east of the depot, and 
a little south of the track, a large brick building has been 
erected and fitted up by the Breslau Manufacturing Company 
for the manufacture of picture-frames and a variety of orna- 
ments altogether too numerous to specify. All these articles 
are made of vulcanized wood. This substance is composed 
of common saw-dust and wood-fibre in chemical combination, 
first rendered to a pulp, then moulded, and afterward pressed 
dry under powerful presses which are run by steam. The 
wood-fibre used here is imported from Germany, and is sim- 
ply wood, ground up very fine. The articles thus manufac- 
tured have the appearance of nicely carved wood, and seem 
to be fully as strong and as durable as the wood in its natural 
state. The great advantage gained by this method of work- 
ing wood is the ease and perfection with which the material 



TOWN OF BABYLON. 177 

may be fashioned into any desired shape or design, however 
complicated it may be. The process was patented in Janu- 
ary, 1869, by Dr. F. E. Marquart, the Superintendent of the 
factory and President of the Company. This manufacturing 
enterprise was first started at Newburyport, Mass. , but the 
Superintendent thinks Breslau a far preferable site for the 
purpose. Owing to its nearness to the great centre, New 
York, and other advantages enjoyed here, he claims the busi- 
ness of manufacturing can be carried on here, twenty per 
cent, cheaper than at the former place. The building in 
which the work is carried on is thirty-four by one hundred 
and ten feet on the ground, and three stories high. The 
works were set in operation in August, 1872, and at present 
about thirty hands are employed, which number will proba- 
bly be increased as the business becomes established. 
Besides this, several other manufacturing enterprises are 
about being established in the place. 

Babylon, the most important village of this town, lies in 
the very southeast corner, upon a neck of land called by the 
Indians Sampowans, Sampaoms, Sumpwams, or Sunquams, 
bounded on the east by a brook of the same name, which 
also forms the boundary line between this town and Islip. 
The village is rapidly increasing, not only in population 
and business, but in all those improvements which culture 
and refinement are wont to suggest, or wealth can procure. 
It contains many delightful country residences of men whose 
business is in the city, or of the retired possessors of inde- 
pendent fortunes. The eastern suburbs of the village extend 
beyond the line of the town a short distance into Islip, and 
in this vicinity are a number of elegantly fitted-up establish- 



178 TOWN OF BABYLON. 

ments. The Episcopal church, called Christ's church, 
erected in 1870 in this locality, is one of the finest specimens 
of church architecture to be seen in a " day's journey." 

The principal part of Babylon is built upon two streets, 
which cross each other nearly at right angles. These are the 
Main Street which runs east and west, and Placide Avenue 
north and south. The village contains four large general 
stores, besides a number of others devoted to drugs and 
medicines, groceries, boots and shoes, clothing and other 
specialties. It has four churches, and five large hotels. The 
annual influx of summer visitors from the cities constitutes 
one of the most important sources of the life and prosperity 
of the village and its business. The hotels, which are sup- 
ported principally by this periodical tide of migration, are 
the Washington, the American, the Sumpwams House, the 
La Grange House, and the Watson House. Of these the 
Watson House, beautifully located on Placide Avenue is one 
of the largest, and in its various appointments probably with- 
out a rival, the finest hotel on Long Island. In size it is one 
hundred and thirteen feet on the front, by forty-seven feet 
deep, three stories high, with a cupola twenty feet square. 
The parlors are elegantly fitted up with rich furniture, and 
the dining room capable of seating two hundred persons. The 
sleeping rooms are eighteen feet square, with ceilings twelve 
feet high. The house is lighted by a two hundred light auto- 
matic gas machine on the premises. Lawns, gardens, 
croquet and cricket grounds, occupy about eight acres sur- 
rounding the house. 

Besides the local attractions which Babylon has for city 
visitors, it is the connecting point between railroad and steam- 



TOWN OF BABYLON. 179 

boat communication on the route from New York to the pop- 
ular seaside resort, Fire Island, A horse car line runs from 
the railroad depot in the upper part of the village, down Pla- 
cide Avenue to the steamboat dock, a distance of about one and 
a half miles. Thousands of visitors annually pass over this 
route, on their way to and from Fire Island. Babylon de- 
pot, on the South Side Railroad is thirty-five miles from 
Brooklyn. The village contains, by the census of 1870 a pop- 
ulation of twelve hundred and twenty-five. 

A fine stream of water, sometimes called Great River, which 
rises near Deer Park, about four miles north of here, flows 
down the west side of the "neck" upon which the principal 
part of the village is located. In its course this stream supplies 
several trout ponds and also furnishes several mill sites, the 
last one of which is upon the Main street of this village, and 
is occupied by a paper mill. The others are located along the 
stream from one to three miles north of here. Another grist- 
mill is located in the eastern part, upon Sampowans Rivfer. 

The palatial country residence and extensive pleasure 
grounds of Mr. E. B. Litchfield adjoin the Great River on 
the west. Blythbourne Lake is a beautiful sheet of water, 
surrounded by these grounds and supplied by this stream, 
upon which art has lavished many improvements. Just 
beyond this is a thinly settled neighborhood called West 
Babylon, containing some good farms. Nehring's Park is a 
large and beautiful grove of oaks, in this vicinity, and one 
mile west of the village. This is fitted up with dancing 
platforms and other conveniences for the accommodation of 
pleasure parties, and during the summer season is frequently 
visited by pic-nics and excursions from Breslau, or New York 



180 TOWN OF BABYLON. 

by the way of that place. Fox's Grove is a similar institution 
on Placide Avenue just below the railroad. A continuation of 
this avenue north of the railroad runs to Deer Park Station 
on the Long Island Railroad, four miles north of here, and 
from this circumstance it is called Dear Park avenue. This 
is settled nearly all the way up, and a number of elegant resi- 
dences are scattered along within a mile or two of Babylon. 
The Babylon Nursery of P. H. Foster is upon this road. 

The Baptist church of this village, a very neat edifice re- 
cently completed, and dedicated Oct. 15, 1872, stands in the 
west part, on the corner of Main Street and Oarll Avenue. It 
cost about $10,000. The names of Mrs. S. A. Bertine and 
Mr. E. B. Litchfield are prominent among its generous 
patrons. A handsome pipe-organ, valued at $1,000 was pre- 
sented by the Strong Place Baptist church of Brooklyn. This 
denomination has been established here but a few years, and 
previous to the erection of the new church occupied the 
small chapel which now adjoins it. 

A small Presbyterian church was built here in 1730. This 
stood in the eastern part of the village, until during the revo- 
lution, when in 1778 the British soldiers pulled it down and 
carried its materials to Hempstead, where they were used in 
the construction of barracks. In 1784, after peace had been 
restored, another church was built, which was occupied until 
1838, when it was sold and a new and larger one erected in 
its stead. History preserves the name of David Thompson, 
Esq. of New York as the donor of a bell belonging to this 
church. A new and magnificent church was erected on the 
same lot in 1870, at a cost of $12,000. This stands in the 
heart of the village, and contains the town clock. It has a 



TOWN OF BABYLON. 181 

large pipe organ which cost $2,000. The old church still 
occupies its original site, and is used as a lecture room and 
"church parlor." 

The first Methodist Episcopal church in this village was 
erected in 1840. It is now used by that society as a Sunday- 
school and lecture room, and stands on a by-street in the rear 
of the present church. This is a handsome building, of good 
size and was erected in 1859. Its site is upon Placide Avenue, 
in the upper part. 

Babylon Cemetery lies a short distance north of the rail- 
road, in the rear of several house lots which front on the west 
side of Deer Park Ave. It adjoins an old burying ground of 
about one acre, which contains several graves removed hither 
from the ancient burial plot in the village, which once occu- 
pied a part of the Presbyterian church yard. The Cemetery 
was first started as a sort of individual enterprise, in Jan. 
1858. Several years after, it was placed in the hands of an 
association and enlarged. It now contains six acres, and 
about two hundred lots have been sold from it. The site is 
level and clear of trees. 

The District school of Babylon numbers about two hundred 
scholars, and is accommodated in a commodious two story 
building which stands in the upper part. 

Sampawans Lodge, I. O. O. F. was instituted in 1847, and 
numbers about 75 members. 

The Suffolk Democrat was moved to this village from Hunt- 
ington in 1859, and continued here until its return to its 
native village in 1885. While here it was published by 
Charles Jayne, assisted in the editorial deiDartmerft by Johu 
11. Pveid, 



182 TOWN OF BABYLON. 

The South Side Signal, one of the largest, and the most 
successful weekly newspaper in Suffolk County, was started 
here in 1869, by Henry Livingston, under whose manage- 
ment it still enjoys a prosperous existence. The paper is 
printed on a power press, driven by steam ; both of which 
improved facilities for newspaper printing Mr. Livingston 
was the first to introduce in the county. 

A large tract of unimproved land, situated upon and near 
the Deer Park road, about two and a half miles north of this 
village, has recently been surveyed into small building lots 
and offered for sale in the New York market, with a view to 
promoting settlement. It is designated as Suburban property 
of Babylon, and judging by the weekly reports of deeds re- 
corded, the lots are being rapidly taken up. If but a small 
proportion of the purchasers become actual settlers within a 
short time, we shall soon see a smart village rising up here that 
may well rival its neighbor Breslau. The location of this 
new field of improvements has the advantage of being be- 
tween two railroads ; the Long Island road one and a half 
miles to the north, and the South Side road two and a half 
miles to the south. These lots, 25x90 feet in size are sold at 
the very reasonable price of $7 each. 

By a recent numbering of the inhabitants, the village of 
Babylon, including its tributary suburbs which extend about 
two miles in either direction from the village centre, contains 
a population of 2,078. 

A continuation of the Central Railroad from Farmingdale to 
this place, which has recently been completed, adds another 
link of communication between this village and the busy 
world. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE TOWN OP SMITHTOWN — HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. 

The township of Smithtown, formerly called Smithfield, 
comprises a territory of nearly ten miles square, lying on the 
north side of the island, and bounded on the north by the 
Sound ; east by Brookhaven ; south by Islip, and west by 
Huntington. The surface is elevated and rolling, and along 
the northern part hilly. The soil is mostly of an excellent 
quality ; well adapted to grass and grain farming, which is 
the principal occupation of the people. Fruit growing is 
also made a subject of considerable attention, with encourag- 
ing and profitable results. The Sound makes a gentle 
indentation upon the north side of this town, which is called 
Smithtown Harbor. Nissaquague, or Nesaquake Eiver rises 
on the southern border, and taking a circuitous course flows 
across the town near the middle and empties into the • Sound. 

The land lying east of this river, as far as " a certain runn 
of water called Stony Brook," which forms the line of Brook- 
haven, was given to Lyon Gardiner of Gardiner's Island, by a 
deed from Wyandanch, Grand Sachem of Long Island, dated 
July 14, 1659 . This grant was made in consideration of the 
favor Mr. Gardiner had done the Sachem, in rescuing his 
only daughter from a captivity among the Narragansefc 
Indians. In 1662 the Nesaquake Indians, who occupied this 
territory, confirmed the transaction ; and in 1663 the tract 
was sold by Mr. Gardiner to Richard Smith, one of the earlv 



184 TOWN OF SMITHTOWN. 

settlers of Brookhaven . A patent of confirmation was given 
to Mr. Smith by Gov. Nicolls, March 3, 1665. Soon after 
this, Mr. Smith purchased an additional tract lying from the 
Nesaquake Kiver westward. This purchase was made of the 
Nesaquake Indians, and a patent from the Governor was 
obtained March 25, 1667, which was supposed to cover this 
and the former tract, though strange to say it appears to have 
contained no definition of the western boundary of the premi- 
ses confirmed by it. It will be remembered that in 1656, the 
people of Huntington purchased of the Matinecock Indians 
a tract of land extending from Great Cow Harbor to Nesa- 
quake River, which of course covered the ground last 
purchased by Mr. Smith. This occasioned a lengthy and bit- 
ter controversy which resulted in the establishment of Mr. 
Smith's claim, and the setting of the boundary where it still 
remains. A final patent for the land of this town was granted 
under Gov. Andros, March 25, 1677, in which the boundaries 
are defined substantially as they remain at the present day. 
The quit-rent required by this patent was the payment an- 
nually of ' ' one good fait lamb unto such officer or officers as 
shall be empowered to receive the same. " The division line 
between the town of Smithtown and Brookhaven was for 
some time a matter of controversy, but was established by 
compromise March 7, 1725. 

The item is preserved both in history and tradition, that 
the said Richard Smith was in the habit of using a large bull 
as a substitute for a horse, and in consequence of this custom 
was popularly designated as the "bull-rider," and his descend- 
ants to the present day are known as the Bull Smiths, which 
title is used to distinguish them from the other families of the 



TOWN OF SMITHTOWN. 185 

saine name, which are designated as the Tangier Smiths, the 
Blwi Smiths, and the Rock Smiths. There is also a tradition 
that when he made the second purchase, described above, he 
agreed with the Indians that for a consideration (which we 
have not learned) he was to have all the land he could ride 
around in a day, and that, mounted upon his favorite bull he 
charged over hill and plain, through brush or bramble, and 
actually surveyed the lines of his purchase. This tradition 
may or may not be truthful : we have no unquestionable 
authority for it. 

It is probable that Mr. Smith commenced improvement 
upon his large estate here soon after the date of his first pur- 
chase, but the settlement evidently did not increase much for 
several years. A condition in the patent of 1665 required 
that ten families should be settled upon the tract within three 
years. It was constituted as a township by the patent of 
1677, but the inhabitants do not appear to have been recog- 
nized in the character of a town until the meeting of the first 
colonial assembly in 1683. This early proprietor of the town 
died about the close of the seventeenth century, leaving a 
greater part of his original possessions to be divided among 
his seven children, which was done a few years afterward. 

When the war-clouds of the Kevolution were lowering, the 
people of Smithtown expressed their patriotism in resolutions 
similar to those adopted by the people of Huntington ; and 
at a meeting held August 9, 1774, voted that "Sol. Smith, 
Dan'l Smith, and Thos. Tredwell be a committee fully em- 
powered, in conjunction with the committees of the other 
towns, to choose delegates to represent this county at the 
General Congress, and to do all that shall be necessary in 



186 TOWN OF SMITHTOWN. 

defence of our just rights and liberties against the unconstitu- 
tional attacks of the British Ministry and Parliament." 

Fresh Pond is a hamlet in the northwestern part, on tha 
line between this town and Huntington, and in the neighbor- 
hood of a pond once called by the Indians Unshemamuck. 
Cowamok is an Indian name of the locality. The entire Ac- 
tion of the town lying west of the Nesaquake River is but 
thinly populated, and large tracts of it are still covered with 
forest growth. 

Middleville or Sunk Meadow is a neighborhood of perhaps 
twenty farm-houses located near the Sound, about two miles 
east of the Huntington line. It was called by the Indians 
Slongo. 

Fort Slongo, located near this place was built by the British 
during the revolution. It was captured and destroyed Oct. 
3, 1781, by Col. Tallmadge with a party of one hundred and 
fifty Continental troops. 

St. Jolinland, located in this section of the town, is a 
charitable institution under the minagement and patronage 
of the Episcopal church, or perhaps more properly its benev- 
olent individual members, and connected in a measure with 
St. Luke's Hospital, in New York. In its design the benevo- 
lent enterprise started here a few years since, as a sort of 
experiment which has thus far proved encouragingly success- 
ful, embraces a variety of objects, among which are the care 
ami education of crippled and destitute children, the training 
of boys and girls for the active duties of life, and the estab- 
lishment of a home for disabled, indigent or friendless old 
msn. Another object, in which direction but little has as yet 
been dene is the accommodation of poor industrious families 



TOWN OF SMIIHTOWN. 187 

with cheap and comfortable homes in which they could con- 
tinue their accustomed employment for support, hut of 
course the arrangements in this particular were not' expected 
to cover many different branches of industry. To use the 
words of its projector, "the purpose was, by the establish- 
ment of one industrial Christian colony, to show what might 
be done for the relief of a large portion of our Protestant 
working population, by the multiplication of such colonies 
within a moderate distance of the city." This institution, or 
combination of institutions, occupies a farm of four hundred 
acres on the Sound shore, about five miles east of Northporfc 
and four miles north of Head of the Eiver, Smithtown. The 
farm was purchased in the latter part of the year 1865 at a 
cost of $14,000, and suitable buildings for the accommoda- 
tion of the various purposes in view have as circumstances 
permitted been fitted up or erected upon it. We take the 
liberty here to make a few extracts from a pamphlet contain- 
ing an account of St. Johnland, kindly furnished us by the 
founder of the enterprise, the Kev. Dr. W. A. Muhlenberg. 
These extracts will explain the objects and operations of its 
managers. 

" This place is, throughout, beautifully diversified with hiU 
and plain, with meadow and wood, and has numerous eligible 
sites for the various institutions expected to make part of the 
colony. For St. Johnland, though designed to be a whole in 
its social, moral, and religious relations, is not limited to a 
single charity, or two or three affiliated ones, but meant to be 
a wide Christian foundation, offering in its broad acres ample 
space and healthful, enjoyable, country surroundings, not 
only to the clustered cottages of its tenant families, but for 
the school, the infirmary, the asylum, the college, or what- 
ever else of benevolent or useful Christian character which 
the benefactions of its friends may enable the Trustees to 
undertake." 



188 TOWN OF SMTTHTOWN. 

"Agricultural labors did not enter into the pictured plans 
of the Avork ; but with so many prospective mouths to feed, 
so much available land could not be allowed to lie fallow. 
What was possible in the way of agriculture and still more 
of gardening was attended to, and the returns have been 
reasonably satisfactory. " 

" In the first year of occupancy three cottages were built 
and tenanted, and the commencement made of the ficst 
industrial business of the place, that of the printing-office, or 
Orphan Boys' Press, now the Stereotype Foundry. This was 
the work of Mr. J. J. Golder, the intelligent and faithful 
Superintendent of the whole place from the beginning until 
the year 1869, when he confined himself to the management 
of the branch of business mentioned. For this, fortunately, 
he was qualified by his previous profession, which at pecun- 
iary disadvantage, he resigned to take charge of the 
commencement of the enterprise." 

"The Stereotype Foundry. The main object of this is to 
afford deserving orphan or destitute boys, and lame or infirm 
youth of either sex, the opportunity of learning type-setting, 
and the art of printing generally, as a means of future self- 
support. As many of the cripp'ed boys and girls as are able 
are engaged in the composiug-rooms a limited number of 
hours, allowing a portion of the day for School, and another 
for recreation. The beneficence of this provision is obvious, 
supplying a Christian home and suitable education, with 
training to remunerative employment, to those who might 
otherwise drag out their days as cumberers of the ground or 
burdens upon their neighbors. * * * * The buildings 
in which the business is carried on were erected for the pur- 
pose mainly by funds derived from the late Mr. F. F. 
Randolph, one of the earliest friends of the enterprise. The 
printing-office, so called, consists of two large composing- 
rooms, the one for boys, the other for girls, with side rooms 
for finishers, etc. In the rear is the Foundry for moulding 
and casting. * * * * That this our first organized in- 
dustry is so far a success may be inferred from the fact that 
several prominent city publishers have supplied us with work, 
the execution of which gave them entire satisfaction." 

' ' The Home for Crippled Children is a substantial two- 
story ^ house of fifty feet by thirty feet, with a wing of the 
same 'dimensions, standing in an apple orchard and looking 
to the south. It has three dormitories and other bed-rooms, 
a large dining-room, Sisters' apartments, kitchens, etc. ; and, 



TOWN OF SMITHTOWN. 189 

by dint of some crowding, and the use of a double cottage 
near by as a sleeping place for the older boys has accommo- 
dated a family of fifty. " 

' ' The crippled children are of both sexes, and of all ages 
from four to sixteen. They live together, under their Sister 
'House-Mother,' as nearly like natural brothers and sisters 
as can well be, with plenty of home liberty, out-of-door fiej- 
dom, and all other accessories of health and youthful 
enjoyment. They all attend school for a longer or shorter 
time daily, according to their age and physical condition, and 
are considerately and tenderly nurtured, as only the adopted 
little ones of a home of Christian love could be." 

"The funds necessary for the initiation of this charity — a 
sum of $7,500, the entire cost of the erection of the house and 
its appurtenances — were spontaneously given by Mrs. C. L. 
Spencer and Miss Catherine Wolfe ; and $1,000 towards the 
furnishing was contributed by Mrs. Aldrich." 

"It is proposed to provide for the maintenance of these 
children by means of patrons, paying one hundred dollars 
yearly for any child they may choose so far to adopt." 

"St. John's Inn, or the Old Man's Home, is the most 
extensive structure in the place, consisting of a centre build- 
ing, forty feet by seventy feet, with a building, thirty -five feet 
by thirty-two feet, on either side, connected with it by en- 
closed piazzas, the whole presenting a handsome front of one 
hundred and fifty feet. The main house is divided into fine 
commodious rooms on the upper floor, and consists below of 
a large general refectory, a Superintendent's room, kitchen, 
linen-room, and other offices. The wings on either side are 
the principal quarters of the old men. It was in considera- 
tion of their convenience, and for greater safety in the con- 
tingency of fire, that the Inn was planned in detached and 
two-storied houses, instead of one large and consolidated 
mansion, as might have been done for the twenty-five thousand 
dollars given for the purpose by our chief benefactor, Mr. 
JohnD. Wolfe." 

' ' The general government of the domain is vested in a 
President and Board of Trustees. Its local authorities are 
the Pastor, Superintendent, and First Sister, in their respect- 
ive spheres. A large responsibility devolves upon the First 
Sister and her associates. They are the chief care-takers of 
the place, the motherly guardians of the children and youth, 
the managers of supplies, and of the domestic economy of the 
settlement generally." 



100 TOWN OF SMITHTOWN. 

An initiation fee of one hundred and fifty dollars each is * 
required by the institution for the admission of boys or girls 
to learn the art of type-setting. This sum is expected to be 
advanced by some friend or patron of the youth so admitted. 
Besides the different institutions which the place contains 
that are noticed in the foregoing extracts there are also the 
Boys House, the "Mansion," the School, a number of cot- 
tages, and a handsome church. This, called the "Church of 
the Testimony " was built three years ago, by the liberality of 
Mr. Adam Norrie. The dimensions of the building are sev- 
enty-five by thirty feet. Two of the cottages were built at 
the expense of Mr. John Caswell, and another by Mr. E. P. 
Fabbri, and the funds for the erection of the Boys House [a 
building thirty by thirty-five feet, containing a dormitory, lav- 
atory, library, social room, &c] were the gift of Mrs Mary Chi- 
solm. In addition to those already mentioned, the names of E. 
B. Minturn, W. H. Aspinwall, Percy B. Pyne, J. F. Sheafe, J. 
H. Swift, Wm. P. Williams, Lorillard Spencer, Mrs Wyman, 
and Stewart B .own, appear among the most liberal supporters 
and coDtributors to the enterprise. Dr. Muhlenberg himself 
has given a fortune, besides his own time and attention, to 
the building up and establishing of the enterprise. Up to 
1870 it appears that over one hundred thousand dollars had 
been contributed and expended in fitting up and carrying on 
the various institutions of this place. The motto of St. John- 
land is taken from the First Epistle of John, III Chapter, 23 
verse : " And this is His commandment ; that we should be- 
lieve on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one 
another, as he gave us commandment." 
A scattered settlement extends along the banks of the 



TOWN OF SMITHTOWN. 191 

Nissequague Eiver, upon either side, from near its mouth to 
the settlement called Head of the Eiver, about four miles 
inland. Upon the river are several landing places for scows 
which transport freight up and down, to and from the place 
where sloop navigation terminates, near the river's mouth. 

Comae, on the boundary between this town and Hunting- 
ton, extends a short distance into the western part upon the 
middle country road. From that place to Smithtown, Head 
of the Eiver, a distance of four miles, the road runs through 
an uninhabited section of sandy wilderness, where we see but 
few evidences of the improving hand of civilization, except 
the road itself and now and then a piece of broken down 
worm fence which once helped to enclose some field now 
grown over with cedars and brambles. 

Smithtown, Head of the Eiver, is located at the head of 
navigation on the Nissequague Eiver at a point where the 
middle country road crosses said liver, and near the geograph- 
ical center of the town. It has two stores, a hotel, a grist- 
mill, a shingle mill, and a superannuated woolen factory, be- 
sides a representation of the usual mechanical trades found in 
a country village. A number of nice residences occupy 
pleasant sites in the vicinity. The mills spoken of are on a 
pond supplied by two smaller streams which uniting form 
Nissequague Eiver. Each of these tributaries has a mill upon 
it a mile above the junction. The one coming from west is 
the outlet of Willow Pond, so named on account of its having 
been surrounded with willow trees. The road to Comae 
crosses this one about a mile west of here. The other branch 
comet* from a southerly direction, and is the outlet of a pond 
in the neighborhood called New Mills, formerly Blydenburg's 



192 TOWN OF SMITHTOWN. 

Mills, about a mile away. Each of these two tributary ponds 
has about twelve feet fall of water, while the main pond at 
the Head of the River though having a greater supply of 
water has only six of eight feet fall. The scows used in 
transporting freight up and down the river, are about twelve 
feet wide by forty to fifty feet long, and will carry twenty- 
five to thirty tons, though the river seldom has water enough 
to allow one to pass with more than half a load. The Smith- 
town and Port Jefferson Railroad crosses the country road 
through the heart of the village, over an iron bridge some 
forty feet high and several hundred feet long, which also 
passes over the river and adjoining flats. About half a mile 
east of here the railroad curves northward again and re-crosses 
the country road between this and its sister village the 
Branch. Smithtown depot is located at the crossing. The 
Head of the River is the seat of Smithtown post-office, and 
the settlement contains a population of about two hundred. 
It is an important business center to the inhabitants scat- 
tered over the adjacent country for two or three miles around. 

A Methodist Episcopal church is located on the west side oi 
the river about two miles north of here, in a vicinity of about 
a dozen houses called the "Landing." It was built some- 
thing like forty years ago. About twenty houses and two oi 
three small stores are scattered along the west side of the 
river below here. 

Mssequague,. the most ancient settlement in the town, lies 
upon the east side of the river, near the Sound — or perhaps 
more properly Smithtown Harbor. This broad vicinage, 
which is hardly compact enough to be properly called a set- 
tlement, contains about twenty farm houses scattered ovei 



TOWN OF SMITH IOWN 193 

the neck of land which lies between the river on the west and 
Stony Brook Harbor on the east. The northeast point of 
Nissequague Neck, near the entrance to Stony Brook Harbor, 
was called by the Indians Rassapeague. It is favored by 
nature with a fine, rich soil, and is divided into large well 
cultivated farms. It is supposed that this locality was the 
royal seat and principal headquarters of the Nesaquake In- 
dians. Near the river was the residence of Richard Smith 
the patentee of the town. The first church and burial place 
were also established here at an early period. The precise 
date when this first church was erected does not appear, but 
it was probably not many years after the first settlement of 
the neighborhood. It stood here until 1750 when it was re- 
moved to the Branch. Several years afterward it was pulled 
down and its materials used in the construction of a woolen 
factory at Blydenburg's Mills, which was finally burned 
down. 

Smithtown Branch, in the eastern part of the town is a 
pleasant farming village of about three hundred inhabitants, 
in the midst of a section of beautiful, level far±n land, on the 
middle country road. It has a post-oflice, two hotels, a store, 
two churches, and a handsome large public school endowed 
by a legacy bequeathed by the late Jonas Smith. A nursery 
was started here about the year 1840, by Gold Silliman of 
Flushing. It was abandoned several years ago. The first 
church of the Presbyterian denomination in this village was 
moved here from Nissequague in 1750, and remained until 
the erection of the jDresent one in 1827. The Methodist 
church, a building of moderate size was erected in 1845, A 
Roman Catholic church located a mile and a half south of 



191 TOWN OF SMITHTOWN. 

here, on the road to Hauppauge was erected about the year 
1843. A Division of Sons of Temperance meets at the 
Branch, and has a membership of about sixty. 

Hauppauge is a settlement of about forty houses, extend- 
ing a distance of three miles or more from east to west, 
along the road which forms the line between this town and 
I slip. It is a marshy locality, and numerous springs rise in 
the neighborhood which form the source of Nissequague 
River. The village was settled by the Wheeler family, and 
was at first called the "Wheeler Settlement." It has a post- 
office, three stores, a school, and a Methodist church erected 
in 1806. Also, a Division of Sons of Temperance, number- 
ing forty members. 

St. James, formerly called Head of the Harbor, is a pleas- 
ant rural village of thirty houses, located partly upon the 
level highland, and partly among the rough hills, at the head 
of Stony Brook Harbor, in the northeast part of the town, 
about three miles from the Sound. Here are three stores 
and an "inn." A post-office was established here about ten 
years ago. The Smithtown and Port Jefferson Railroad runs 
a little south of the village, and has a depot at this place. 
The soil of the neighborhood is heavy and fertile, and the 
people are mostly farmers. An Episcopal church erected 
about the year 1857 stands in the vicinity, upon the elevated 
plain. A Methodist church is also in process of erection. 
This village lies about three miles northeast of the Branch. 
Smithtown Driving Park is located on the road between these 
two points. It occupies a beautiful, level field, and is a popu< 
lar resort for the lovers of "the turf." 



TOWN OF SMITHTOWN. 195 

A mile northeast of St James brings ns to the quiet little 
hamlet of Mills' Pond, a collection of not more than a dozen 
houses, on the eastern border of the town. Here we are sur- 
rounded by extensive orchards of healthy, vigorous looking 
fruit trees. By the side of a small pond stands the commo- 
dious mansion of the late Wickham W. Mills, almost hidden 
among the great mass of ornamental trees which surrounds it. 



CHAPTER XI. 

TOWN OF ISLTP — HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. 

The town of Islip lies upon the south side of the island, 
centrally distant from New York about forty-five miles. It is 
bounded on thcwest by the towns of Babylon and Hunting- 
ton, on the north by Smithtown and Brookhaven, on the east 
by Brookhaven, and on the south by the Great South Bay. 
The town is about eight miles in width, and near sixteen in 
length from west to east. It contains about seventy thousand 
acres, and a population of four thousand five hundred and 
ninety-seven. The Bay opposite most of this town is from 
four to six miles wide, and contains a number of small islands 
lying near the outer beach. The water for the most part is 
shoal. Fire Island Inlet is opposite, near the middle of. the 
town, and from it several natural channels diverge toward 
different points. These are navigable for medium sized -ves- 
sels. The surface of the town is level and the soil good. 
Along the south shore about sixteen noticeable brooks flow 
into the Bay. Some of these rise two to six miles inland, 
and furnish power for driving some machinery, though the 
flatness of the country forbids their being utilized to much 
extent in this direction. The Great South Beach opposite 
this town, as far west as the Conetquot Biver, belongs to 
Brookhaven town. 

The historians tell us that settlement by the whites com- 
menced in this town about the year 1666. In what part of the 



TOWN OF TSLIP. 197 

town such early settlement was made we are unable to learn. 
The town was first recognized as a corporate body by the colo- 
nial government November 25th, 1710, and the first town 
meeting held on the first Tuesday in April, 1720. The first 
settlers are supposed to have been natives of Islipe, in Oxford- 
shire, England, which circumstance accounts for the name of 
the town. The lands west of the Conetquot River were pre- 
viously occupied by the Secatogue tribe of Indians, and from 
them were purchased by the whites. The Conetquot River is 
about six miles west of the east boundary of the town, and 
the tract of land lying between was purchased of Winnequa- 
heagh the Sachem of Conetquot, a family or branch of the 
Secatogue tribe. 

The first patent for lands within this town was granted to 
William Nicolls November 29th, 1683. This extended from 
the mouth of Conetquot River west along the Bay around 
what is now called Nicoll's Point to Cantasquntah Creek, and 
north as far as the head of Conetquot River. A second patent 
was granted to Nicolls November 1st, 1686, confirming the 
former one and embracing in addition to it that neck of land 
situate between Cantasquntah Creek and the brook, Wingatt- 
happagh, which runs down about a mile to the west. This 
patent extended back as far north as the former one. Feb- 
ruary 20th, 1697, a third patent was issued to Nicolls, embrac- 
ing that tract of land lying on the east side of Conetquc - and 
between it and Namkee Creek, which forms the present east- 
ern boundary of the town. These three patents covered the 
larger part of the township, and formed a tract of land nearly 
ten miles square. For about a century this extensive domain 
was preserved by entailment in the possession of successive 



198 TOWN OF ISLIP. 

members of the family. After the year 1786, however, sales 
were begun and have continued from time to time until but a 
comparatively small portion of it now remains in the hands 
of the family. 

March 26th, ' ' in the fourth year of the reign of William 
and Mary," [1692J Andrew Gibb received a patent for that 
neck of land lying between Wingatthappagh Brook and Oro- 
wac Brook, being about a mile in width, and extending back 
to near the centre of the island. The central part of the 
present village of Islip is located upon the ground covered by 
this patent. 

October 10th, 1695, Gov. Fletcher granted a patent to 
Thomas and Richard Willets, for a tract of land in the west- 
ern part of the town, lying between Sampowams Brook on 
the western boundary, and Oquenock Brook about three 
miles east. This tract extended from the Bay, northerly, to 
within three-fourths of a mile of the location of the Long 
Island Railroad. 

A patent was issued June 2d, 1697, to Stephanus Cortlandt, 
for a narrow strip of land lying next east of Willet's patent 
and terminating on the Bay shore in Saghtekoos Neck, which 
lies between the brooks Oquenock and Mispatuck, "and by 
Christians called Appletree Neck." 

The land between Cortlandt's patent on the west and Gibb's 
patent on the east was granted to John Moubray, October 19th, 
1708. 

"Five Islands" lying just within the beach opposite this 
town, the original name of which has been corrupted to Fire 
Islands, were patented to William Nicolls June 4th, 1688. 

The fact that several members of the Nicolls family have 



tOWN OF ISLTP. 199 

figured prominently in the history of this town, as well as 
other parts of the island and state, we consider sufficient 
apology for turning aside a moment to notice the genealogy 
and history of the family, as it relates to the subject in hand. 

Mathias Nicolls, a native of Islipe, in Oxfordshire, England, 
came over in the expedition fitted out by the Duke of York to 
take possession of the province of New Netherlands, in 1664. 
He was a nephew of Col. Richard Nicolls, who commanded 
the expedition and was appointed first governor of the colon j 
under English rule. Mathias was constituted a member of 
the council and secretary of the colony. He subsequently 
filled other offices of honor and responsibility in the colony. 
At the time of his death in 1687, he owned several large tracts 
of land in Queens county which he left to his son William. 

William Nicolls is supposed by Thompson to have come 
from England with his father in 1664. At that time he was a 
boy of about seven years old. Be that as it may he rose in 
early manhood to a position of prominence in the legal pro- 
fession; in 1683 having been appointed the first clerk of 
Queens county, which position he held five years. In the 
year last mentioned he began making purchases of land which 
we have already noticed as being now comprehended in the 
town of Islip. In 1701 he was elected to represent the county 
of Suffolk in the General Assembly, but not being a resident 
of the county was not permitted tc hold a seat in that body. 
In 1702 he fixed his residence at Great Neck, Islip, on what 
is now the " Deer Range Farm," and the same year was again 
elected to the Assembly. He was now admitted and further 
chosen speaker of the house. After that he represented the 
county in Assembly for twenty successive years, fifteen of 



200 TOWN OP TSLTP. 

which he occupied the position of speaker and was only pre- 
vented from holding these honorable stations during a longer 
period by failing health and death. In 1704 Mr. Nicolls came 
in possession, by the will of Giles Sylvester, of about one- 
half of Shelter Island. He died in 1723, leaving his large 
estate at Islip to his second son, William. Benjamin settled 
at Islip and died young, leaving two sons, William and Benja 
min. William Nicoll the second, who inherited the property 
on Shelter Island, was educated a lawyer, and represented 
Suffolk county in the Assembly from the year 1739 till his 
death, in the early part of the year 1768. During the last 
nine years of this period he was regularly chosen speaker of 
the house. He died a bachelor and his property descended 
to his brother Benjamin's oldest son, the third William 
Nicoll, who had also inherited the Islip estate of his father. 
The second Benjamin removed to New York where having 
received a liberal education, he engaged in the practice of law. 
The third William had two sons, William and Benjamin. To 
the latter he left his estate on Shelter Island and to the for 
mer, the fourth William, the patents at Islip. William Nicoll 
the fourth died in 1799, leaving an infant son, the sole heir of 
his property. This was William Nicoll the fifth, who died in 
1823, leaving his estate to his three children. The sixth 
William Nicoll, the present lineal representative of this 
ancient family and estate, occupies a large farm on Great 
Neck, near the head of Cantasquntah Creek, on the land cov- 
ered by the first patent of 1683. 

It is not our object here to trace out anything like a bio- 
grapical or complete genealogical sketch of this illustrious 
family, but simply to follow the line of descent by which the 



TOWN OF ISLIP. 201 

Nicolls patents have been handed down from the time when 
the "howling wilderness " covered the face thereof to the 
present. 

The shores of this town and the margins of its numerous 
creeks and brooks abound in wild fowl, and are regularly made 
popular resorts for sj)ortsmen during the seasons of the year 
when the desired game is most plenty or the law does not 
prohibit its being taken. Deer are found upon the plains and 
in the forests, more frequent than in any other part of the 
island. Other game is comparatively plentiful. Among the 
reptiles of this part of the island an occasional rattlesnake 
still lingers. These are very rare about here, and in 
most other parts of the island entirely unknown.* 

The north line of this town runs through the Hauppauge 
valley, whose numerous springs, noted for their purity and 
low temperature, supply the sources of the Nissequague 
River. The hills of the central range rise on the south of 
this valley, and from their southern slope the gently descend- 
ing plain stretches away to the south side of the island on an 
average grade of about twenty feet to the mile. About a 



* In September, 1801, a reptile was killed in a swamp in this town, which ex- 
cited considerable curiosity among the people, being of a species unknown here. 
It was thus described by a New York periodical of the time: — "Its length was 
seven feet, and of proportional thickness. It was on the belly and sides of a 
straw color; on the back were thirty-six black spots reaching from the head to 
the tail, and on each side of this row were other dark brown spots. It had no 
fangs or biting teeth, and was therefore not venomous. In the lower part of 
the mouth was a considerable fleshy portion like a tongue, which terminated in 
a long bicuspidated proiection. It had scuta both on the belly and tail Avhich 
amounted to about three hundred. From these characters it is evident that it 
belonged to the genus Bi.a: the number of scuta so exactly corresponding to the 
species termed constrictor, and is said in India to grow to the length of thirty 
feet, and to be capable of destroying the largest animals by entwining itself 
about the body of its victims." 



202 TOWN OF ISLIP 

mile and a half to the south of the ridge of hills, the surface 
is one hundred feet above tide water. Nearly all the northern 
part of this township is a wilderness, being in the midst of 
that great region of central lands long known as the 
"plains," or "barrens of Long Island." Through this wild 
region the Long Island Railroad passes. At the time this 
road was opened, about thirty years ago, this immense tract 
of unoccupied land was covered with a heavy grewth of tim- 
ber — yellow pine along the neighborhood of the railroad, 
oak and chestnut among the hills, and varieties o.f oak on 
the southern borders. Soon after the opening of the railroad 
this great forest of timber was almost entirely destroyed, by 
the axe, and the frequent fires which were kindled by falling 
cinders thrown from passing locomotives, and by charcoal 
burners. Vast quantities of wood were converted into char- 
coal or sent to market as cordwood, and in this way the 
stately forest was mown down, and the same causes operating 
ever since have prevented it from rising again to its former 
magnitude and vigorous luxuriance. The timber-growth, its 
only valuable product being thus destroyed or stunted, the 
L.nl soon became overgrown with the native scrub-growth, 
and was abandoned to neglect and disrepute. About this 
time attention was called to the subject of cultivating and 
improving these lands for agricultural purposes, by Dr. 
Edgar F. Peck, who resided in Smithtown Branch from 1841 
to 1847, and who after careful examination of the soil and its 
productions, claimed that it was not destitute of the supply- 
ing elements of vegetation, but in its natural condition was 
of good or fair quality, and capable of being brought to a 
high state of cultivation by ordinary means. He advocated 






TOWN OF ISLIP. 203 

the settlement of these lands and brought the subject exten- 
sively before the public. In the various agricultural publica- 
tions of that period and succeeding years may be found de- 
scriptions and arguments by Dr. Peck, and others as well, to 
show that these lands might be brought into successful culti- 
vation and become the home of a thriving population. In the 
"Transactions of the American Institute " for the year 1847 
may be found a full account of the manner in which these 
lands were brought before the public, and in the " N. Y. State 
Agricultural Society's Transactions " for the year 1859 will 
be seen a report on the "Lands of Long Island," by Win- 
slow C. Watson, the whole of which is full of interest and 
worthy of a careful perusal, but we must be content with 
quoting here the following paragraphs which are more im- 
mediately connected with the subject in hand. 

Mr. Watson says : — 

"More than one careful examination of this district, in 
reference to its geological structure, agricultural capabilities, 
and local advantages, have confirmed the original impression, 
that no natural impediments exist, to the successful culture 
of these plains. A strange and inscrutable popular delusion 
seems to prevail very generally on this subject. Hereditary 
opinions seem to have taken singular possession of the public 
mind. These opinions have been probably adopted and 
cherished without reflection, and without examination of 
facts, which are everywhere disclosed on the island. Histo- 
rians of Long Island have assumed the same conclusions, and 
in asserting and diffusing them, have exerted a most injurious 
influence upon private interests and general progress. So 
decided have been these views, that until recent intelligent 
investigation had changed the policy, portions of these lands 
were deemed so utterly worthless, as not to be considered 
worthy of being placed on the grand list." 

"I might distrust the propriety of a stranger meddling 
with this local question, were it not that my views have been 
so fully sustained and fortified by the decided opinions of 
G eneral Dix, expressed in his recent admirable address before 



204: TOWN OF ISLIP. 

the State Society. [An extract from the address referred to 
will be found in Chap. V, of this work.] I have no possible 
interest in these lands, and can therefore speak with more 
freedom and impartiality. The facts and results upon which 
are based my convictions, I have collected with great care 
and vigilance, as well by personal investigations as from con- 
versations with intelligent gentlemen, who are familiar with 
the subject. Among the numerous persons to whom I am 
under obligations, I may particularly refer to the Bev. E. M. 
Johnson, of Brooklyn, whose clear memory, in a green and 
vigorous age, enables him to trace the progress of the island 
for nearly half a century ; to Mr. Harold, the intelligent 
secretary of the Queens County Society, and to Mr, Bridger, 
of North Islip, who combines with careful observation much 
practical experience in the cultivation of the plains. I should 
violate my sense of justice, were I not to refer especially to 
the services and efforts of Doct. Edgar F. Peck of Brooklyn. 
Fro in this gentleman, who for fifteen years has strenuously 
combatted the deepest prejudices and the most unyielding 
opposition in his labors for the development of these lands, I 
have received the most important aid and information. I do 
not hesitate, in this connection, to adopt the words of an 
eminent gentleman, who remarked to me : 'If these plain 
lands are reclaimed and brought into successful culture, the 
result must be attributed to the zeal and intelligence of Dr. 
Peck, more than to any other cause.' The convictions of Dr. 
Peck, as to the qualities of these lands, were derived from 
personal investigations, commenced in 1841, and subsequent 
results have fully confirmed the views then formed." 

Along the line of the railroad through this section a few 
settlements have been commenced within the last twenty-five 
or thirty years, and though some of them have made com- 
mendable progress, the great bulk of the plain remains at the 
present day unimproved. The fault of this is no doubt 
attributable, more to the general indifference of land holders 
to the matter of offering inducements for settlers, than to 
any defect in the soil. This for the most part is a fine yellow 
loam, and what efforts have been made to improve it for cul- 
tivation have been rewarded with favorable result?. 



TOWN OF ISL1P. 205 

Brentwood, first called Modern Times, is a village of about 
two hundred inhabitants, lying mostly on the south side of 
the Long Island railroad in the northwest part of the town. 
It occupies a beautiful level site, on a plain whose surface is 
elevated near one hundred feet above the level of tide water, 
and is regularly laid out, with avenues crossing each other at 
right angles. The village plat is as yet but partially built up. 
A few handsome residences have been erected here. The 
settlement was commenced about twenty years ago, by a few 
individuals who proposed to establish a social community on 
some modification of the "free love" principle, the precise 
details of which we do not understand. The scheme seems 
to have been unsuccessful, and when its vaporous novelty 
passed away most of its followers settled down to the com- 
mon customs of civilized life. The village plat embraces 
about one mile square. The present name was adopted by a 
meeting of the inhabitants Sept. 7, 1864. Several nurseries 
and similar enterprises have been established here, and for 
these the village is noted to a greater extent than any other 
in the county. An Episcopal chapel, a branch from St. 
Mark's church at Islip, was built in the autumn of 1872, the 
corner stone laid Sept. 12th. For about twelve years pre- 
vious, the school house had been used for public worship and 
Sabbath school. 

Thompson Station, the site of which was half a mile west 
of here, was discontinued and the depot established at this 
village in Dec. , 1869. At that time the people donated land 
and money amounting to $1,400 to the Railroad Company for 
depot buildings, which have since been used also for post- 
oihce, telegraph office, and other railroad purposes. 



206 TOWN OF ISLIP. 

We may add that the people of this village are strict ad- 
herents to temperance principles, and remarkably liberal in 
their support of public improvements and educational 
interests. 

North Islip, formerly called Suffolk Station, is a railroad 
depot and post-office, one and a half miles east of Brent- 
wood, in the midst of the plain. This was formerly the 
point of connection between stage and rail communication 
for the village of Islip, four miles south. It is about to be 
abandoned as a railroad depot, and a new one established at 
Central Islip in its stead. 

About one mile further east, and- mostly on the north of 
the railroad lies the village of Central Islip, another modern 
settlement which during a few years past has made considera- 
ble growth. It contains two churches, a store, school, 
burying-ground, and about fifty houses. The inhabitants are 
mostly settlers from abroad. An Episcopal chapel was built 
here in 1869. In ministerial service it is connected with St. 
Mark's church at Islip. A Methodist Episcopal church ia 
centrally located, and was built in 1870 ; dedicate d May 19, 
1872. 

Lakeland is a railroad station, four and a half miles east of 
Central Islip, and near the angle of Brookhaven town. The 
settlement contains twenty-five houses, a store and post-office. 
Manufactories of tobacco and segars, and pearl buttons, have 
been established here within a few years past. The soil of 
the neighborhood is good for farming and gardening, and 
the surface level and beautiful, stretching back to the gentle 
hills that border the romantic Lake Ronkonkoma about a 
mile distant, on the north. This settlement was commenced 



TOWN OF ISLIP. 207 

in 1848-9, by Dr. E. F. Peck, and was the pioneer settlement 
in the " Plana s." Up to that time there was only a small 
station honse here in the midst of the wilderness. Dr. Peck 
selected this as a desirable tract for an agricultural settlement 
of farms and gardens, and erected the principal buildings in 
the place, at a cost of several thousand dollars ; laid out and 
opened Ocean Avenue, (the principal street running north 
and south) cltared and cultivated a portion of the land, with 
a view to demonstrate its productive quality ; established a 
post-office and was appointed post-master. He entered into 
the enterprise of founding an agricultural settlement, with 
the promised aid of the L. I. R. R. Company, in the carrying 
of freight and passengers to and from this point at reduced 
rates, but after the unfortunate failure of the R. R. Company, 
in 1851, and the transfer of its affairs into the hands of other 
managers who refused to continue the promised aid to this 
settlement, Dr. Peck sold the entire tract with all the im- 
provements, and retired from the enterprise. The sale of 
land was continued, but after several thousand acres had been 
disposed of, the progress of the settlement, so nobly begun, 
was disastrously checked by a confusion of titles which dis- 
possessed a great proportion of the purchasers. * 

Abont two miles south of Lakeland is a collection of a 
dozen houses or more called Bohemia, occupied by German 
settlers many of whom are engaged in segar making, f 

Holbrook, on the L. I. Railroad, two and a half miles east 
of Lakeland, is a pleasant little settlement of about twenty 
houses, containing a district school and a church. The 
foundation of this settlement was laid in 1848, by A. McCot- 
ter, who purchased about five thousand acres of the wild 
plain, and offered it in small tracts, of five to twenty acres, to 

*For further particulars in relation to this matter, see Appendix. 

tin the latter part of July, 1873, a ravaging fire in the woods spread over the 
eastern part of this township, burning for several days, and blackening a dis- 
trict of thirty to fifty square miles area. In its course it destroyed a number of 
dwewings at Bohemia, and also at Edenvale near the Brookhaven line. Several 
other houses, besides barns, farming implements, crops, and even animals 
which were within its range were burned. 



208 TOWN OF ISLIP. 

men of moderate means who wished to secure comfortable 
homes in the country. Attempts have been made to establish 
manufactories of ladies' shoes and silk, but these as yet have 
not been flattered with permanent success. A Presbyterian 
church was commenced here in 1863, and dedicated in 1866. 
The society for whose benefit the church was erected was 
organized in 1860, and disbanded in 1869, since which time 
the pulpit has been occasionally occupied by ministers of 
different denominations. A Division of the Sons of Temper- 
ance numbering forty-two members, is now in a lively state 
of existence. 

In the southwestern part of the town and scattered along 
the old south country road for a distance of about four miles 
is a locality known as West Islip, occupied almost exclusively 
by the country seats and palatial residences of gentlemen of 
wealth and ease. This locality lies between Babylon on the 
west and Bay Shore on the east. The country here is level 
and the residences mostly on the north side of the road, 
which winds along with graceful curves, while south of it the 
clear fields and meadows stretch to the bay a mile more or 
less distant. Nowhere else in the county do we find so 
many elegant and aristocratic establishments grouped togeth- 
er, with such rich and elaborate surroundings as here. And 
it is worthy of remark that this same locality, where now we 
behold such a full exhibition of what art and wealth have 
done to gratify the ideas of a high grade of civilization, was 
once the headquarters and strong hold of the Secatogue tribe 
of Indians. What a marvellous transformation scene has 
passed here ! Less than two centuries ago this very spot was 
the undisputed heritage of savages. Here their dusky forms 



TOWN OF ISLIP. 209 

squatted and shivered around smoking fagot-fires upon the 
bare earth, while they joined in rude social festivities, or 
awaited the preparation of their simple meals, or held council 
upon the enterprises or questions which engrossed their 
interest. Here they planned wars or defences, roamed over 
the waste of scrubby plain in pursuit of game, drew from the 
adjacent waters their stores of fish and bi- valves, and wrought 
wampum from the shells. Now the savage and the parapher- 
nalia of savage life have passed away, and their places are 
filled by the spacious mansions of the rich, with all their ele- 
gant surroundings and splendid equipages, competing well 
with those of Eastern princes and nobles. 

Along this section a number of small streams rise and flow 
into the bay. These are at intervals of about half a mile, 
and the true old Indian names of most of them have been 
preserved. Sampowams Eiver is on the western boundary of 
the town. Next to that we have a small creek called Sco- 
quams, modernized to Mud Creek, which latter name implies 
as much truth as the former does romance. Next to that we 
find a more considerable stream honored by the title of Se- 
catogue Brook. The residence of the sachem of the tribe is 
supposed to have been upon this stream. Near the head of it 
is a large trout-pond belonging to Dr. Alfred Wagstaff. The 
land lying upcn the west side of this brook was called by the 
Indians "Gorgo his Neck," which term has been corrupted to 
George's Neck, and further to St. George's Neck. Secatogue 
Neck lies upon the east side of the brook of the same name. 
The neck of land called Oquenock is said to have been an ancient 
burial-place of the numerous tribe of Indians which inhabited 
this section, and this is said to be the import or meaning of 



210 TOWN OF ISLIP. 

the name . Oquenock Brook runs down the east side of it, 
and separates it from another neck called by the Indians 
Saghtekoos, otherwise Apple-tree-neck. A little brook which 
divides the shore of this neck was called by the Indians 
Keemiscomock or Weepoose. This neck it will be 
remembered comprises the width on the bay of Van Cort- 
landt's patent. It is bounded on the east by a stream called 
Mispatuck. Next east of that is the brook Compowis, cor- 
rupted to Compowms. Still further east we come to the 
brook Manshtak, upon which a saw-mill was established 
about a hundred years ago, by David Willets. The next 
brook east of this is the Watchogue, a small stream running 
down the west side of Panothticutt or Penataquit Neck. 

Upon this neck which is about half a mile wide, the central 
part of the village of Bay Shore is located. This village is 
beautifully situated on the old Country Road, between the 
South Side Railroad line and the Bay. The station in the 
upper part of the village, about half a mile from the princi- 
pal centre, is distant five and a half miles east of Babylon. 
The village lias an air of thrift and life about it, as though its 
people considered themselves as living in the present age of 
progress, and not feeding solely upon the memories of the 
past or visions of the future. It has a population of about 
eight hundred and fifty engaged prncipally in various me- 
chanical pursuits, farming and bay fishing. Two commodious 
hotels, the Bay Shore House at the depot, and the Dominy 
Rouse on Main Street, are well patronized during the sum- 
mer months by city visitors who wish to enjoy the advanta- 
ges for recreation which are here presented. The village has 
a good installment ol' the urdinarv tradesmen, and six stores. 



TOWN OF ISLIP. 211 

A grist-mill is located on Panothticutt Biver in the eastern 
part of the village. A little west of this stands the Congre- 
gational church, a building of moderate dimensions erected 
about twenty years ago. A short distance further, on the same 
road, is the Methodist Episcopal church, a handsome struct- 
ure erected here in 1867. A small burying ground is con- 
nected with this, and lies in the rear of the church. Between 
here and the railroad and upon the west side of a new street 
recently opened up between the two churches, stands the new 
school house, just completed at a cost of $5,000. This build- 
ing is a very creditable affair, and a good representative of the 
enterprise of the place. The school numbers about one hun- 
dred and fifty scholars. Bay Shore Division of the Sons of 
Temperance has fifty members, and meets Wednesday even- 
ings. This village is located nearly central upon the south side of 
the Moubray Patent of 1708. The main road between here 
and Islip is inhabited all the way along, which fact renders it 
rather difficult to determine just where the dividing line 
should be. This village was formerly called Mechanicsville, 
then by the corrupted Indian name Penataquit, which since 
the coming of the South Side Bailroad has been changed for 
its present name. About a mile and a half east of here is a 
burial plot of about an acre, styled the Clock burying ground, 
which contains a number of graves, and a family vault. 
Several other family burying grounds are scattered about 
the vicinity. Just back of the village of Bay Shore is a small 
African church. 

Islip is a handsome village of about one thousand popula- 
tion, on the south side of the town two miles east of Bay 
Shore. It has a station on the South Side Bailroad, half a 



212 TOWN OF ISLIP. 

mile back of the village. There are a number of mechanic 
shops in the place, and five general stores, one of which, that 
of Clock Brothers is claimed to be the largest store in the 
county. The main street of the village, which is the south 
* 'country road " lies about one mile from the bay. The 
churches, stores, hotels, and most all the other "institu- 
tions " are upon it. In the southern and eastern parts are a 
number of fine residences, some of them occupied as summer 
seats and others permanently. The village site is a beautiful 
one. Nature laid here a suitable foundation for Art to build 
upon. The principal part of the village is built upon the 
neck of land covered by Gibb's patent of 1692, which lies 
between the brooks Orowac on the west and Wingatthappagh 
(an Indian name meaning "sweet waters ") on the east. This 
neck is about a mile in width. About half a mile west of the 
brook Orowac another stream runs down, rejoicing under the 
two names of Kakaijongh and Awixa. It is needless to say 
the latter name is the one most generally used. Saxton's 
Neck lies between the two brooks last mentioned. Upon 
this neck the Olympic Club have fine buildings elegantly 
furnished. They have been established here about fifteen 
years. On the west side of the brook Awixa Mr . John Moubray, 
the patentee of the large tract bearing his name, built a house 
and settled. A part of the house is still standing, though it 
has undergone some changes since first placed there. A 
paper-mill belonging to Ebenezer Hawkins is situated upon 
Orowac brook. Near this, lumber and coal yards are located 
on the main road, at the head of the creek into which this 
brook empties. This is the only place on the south side of 
the county where there is depth of water sufficient to admit 



TOWN OP ISLIP. 213 

navigi tion as far up as the country road. The channel here 
is about thirty to forty feet wide and three to four feet deep. 
Large scows are employed to transport the cargos of sloops 
and schooners from out on the bay up to this landing. On 
a smaller brook which empties into Orowac creek from the 
east Mr. J. H. Doxsee has a large trout-pond, the water from 
which is also utilized in driving a wheel connected with a 
shaft which runs under the owner's barn. Belts from pulleys 
on this shaft are attached to various machines as occasion 
demands, and thus a cheap and convenient power for driving 
thresfring machines, fanning mills, corn shellers, feed cutters 
and grinders, saws, grind-stones and the like, is always at 
hand and ready for action. 

Doxsee's canning establishment is located on the east side 
of Orowac Brook or Doxsee's Creek as the lower part is 
called, about half a mile below the main road. Here a con- 
siderable business, which has no rival in the county, is 
carried on in the preparation of hermetically sealed goods, 
principally confined to the canning of green corn, tomatoes, 
clams and fish. After considerable time and money had been 
spent in experimenting upon the process of preserving "qua- 
haugs," or hard clams, Mr. Doxsee started the business 
successfully about seven years ago. The canning of fish — 
moss bunkers — was added during the past season [1872. ] 
These fish are "scaled," and cleaned, by a series of simple 
machines which perform the work with unerring nicety, after 
which they are cooked, by a process which we do not propose 
to explain, and then packed in tin cans somewhat the shape 
of sardine cans, but containing about two pounds each. 
Everybody knows that the meat contained in these fish is the 



214 town or islip. 

sweetest of almost any fish-meat in the world, but the great 
objection to eating them has always been the innumerable 
fine bones which they contain. The beauty of the "Ameri- 
can Lunch Fish " put up at this establishment is, that they 
are cooked or prepared in such a way that all the bones, not 
excepting the back-bone, are as tender and eatable as any 
part of the meat, and can hardly be discovered from it. 
About thirty thousand fish have been put up here this season. 
A five-horse-power steam engine is used for running the nec- 
essary machinery, and ten to twenty hands are employed in 
the establishment. The principal other articles canned here 
during the season are six thousand bushels of clams, four 
hundred bushels of tomatoes and the product of ten acres of 
corn. 

Near this is a good dock to which any ordinary sized sloop 
or schooner can come at any time of tide. The channel from 
the outer bay to this point has been improved within the past 
year by the expenditure of about $7,000 ; $4,400 of which was 
appropriated by the state legislature, and the balance paid by 
individual contribution of J. H. Doxsee Esq. Here is a 
splendid opening for business in the way of a lumber or coal 
yard, or any other branch of business requiring a location 
immediately accessible by vessel. With a channel fifty feet 
wide and seven to eight feet of water this is without a ques- 
tion the most convenient landing on the shore of the town. 
A ship-yard has not long since been established near the 
mouth of the creek by Alonzo Smith. Two sets of marine 
railways are connected with it, and considerable repairing is 
also done. 

A Presbyterian chapel was built in this village in the year 



TOWN OF ISLIP. 215 

1852, connected with the church of that denomination at 
Babylon. In 1857 a separate church was organized here. A 
new church edifice, one of the largest and handsomest in the 
county, was completed about May 1st, 1869, at a cost of 
$15,000, including furniture etc. About $8,000, or the 
greater part of the expense of this noble enterprise was paid 
by the generous contribution of the late Mr. Robert L. Mait- 
land. A handsome bell from Meneely's celebrated West Troy 
Foundry was presented by the Stewarts — sugar refiners, of 
New York. The choir-loft contains a splendid pipe organ 
which cost $1,500, to the purchase of which Dr. A. G. 
Thompson made liberal contributions. The old church is 
retained as a lecture room, used for the accommodation of 
prayer meetings, Sunday schools and the like. 

A short distance east of the new Presbyterian stands the 
Methodist Episcopal, a handsome edifice of less dimensions, 
but neat appearance. The first church erected by this 
denomination about this neighborhood was built sonde time 
about the year 1840, on a site about half way between this 
village and Bay Shore. In 1866 the old church was pulled 
down, and some of its materials used in the construction of 
the present one, which was erected that year. The congre- 
gation in which the two villages had before been represented 
was now divided and a separate church established in each 
place. 

Nearly half a mile east of this, on the same road, St. Mark's 
Episcopal church stands on the corner of Johnson's Avenue. 
This is a plain, substantial looking building, of moderate di- 
mensions, and though by no means meagre in any respect, is 
still a rather modest anair in comparison with the display of 



216 TOWN OF ISLIP. 

costly trappings, glittering coaches, dashy teams and liveried 
drivers which may be seen gathering here "on a Sunday 
morning." This church was built in 1847. The organiza- 
tion was at first a branch from St. John's church at Oakdale. 
St. Mark's church now has three mission stations ; one at 
Youngsport, one at Brentwood, and one at Central Islip, all 
undor the care of the same Rector. 

The Public school of Islip is a handsome two-story build- 
ing, the initial part of which was erected about twenty years 
ago, and in 1869 enlarged by the addition of the second 
story. The average attendance of pupils now numbers about 
one hundred and twelve, and two teachers are employed. 
Amos Doxsee was a teacher in this school twenty years or 
more. He retired from the position in 1859, and about two 
years afterward started the Nassau Institute at Bay Shore, 
with the intention of establishing a first class boarding 
school. The institution was fitted up with various ajDpliances, 
such as a printing office, astronomical instruments and ob- 
servatory, musical instruments and so forth, calculated to 
give a pretty complete course of instruction in the different 
arts and sciences, by practical demonstration as well as 
theory. In consequence of loss of eyesight, Mr. Doxsee was 
obliged to abandon the enterprise. 

The Town Hall was built in 1869, by a joint stock company 
of eighteen stock-holders, at a cost of $2,800. It stands near 
the school house, and is used for town meetings and various 
public gatherings. The upper floor is occupied by Meridian 
Lodge, No. 091, F. & A. M. This flourishing Lodge was in- 
stituted in July, 1869, and now numbers sixty members. 



TOWN OF ISLIP. 217 

Islip Division, S. of T. meets in the same building. This 
institution reports thirty-four members. 

This village has three hotels, depending principally upon 
the flood of summer visitors from the city for their support. 
They are all located in that part of the village which lies east 
of the Wingatthappagh Brook. Of these the " Pavilion," a 
mammoth establishment, is one of the finest hotels on the 
island. 

Several nice trout ponds have been improved on the brook 
Wingatthappagh, and the adjoining grounds are tastefully 
laid out and beautified. 

East of the village, occasional farm houses are scattered 
along the road. About three miles brings us to the head of 
the Conetquot River, where the South Side Club have a 
house for their reception, beautifully located on a smooth, 
well kept lawn by the side of a mill pond, which offers supe- 
rior facilities for the popular diversion of trout-fishing. " A 
grist-mill is situated on the dam of this pond. The South 
Side Railroad line runs a little south of here, and a "flag 
station " for the accommodation of the club is located near 
by. The country seat of the late Robert L. Maitland, gener- 
ous benefactor of the Islip Presbyterian church, is a short 
distance west of the Club House. A brook runs through the 
premises, joining the Conetquot below, and upon it trout 
ponds have been established. 

Youngsport is a hamlet of twenty-one houses, on the west 
side of Conetquot River, near its mouth. It has one store, 
and a freight station on the South Side Railroad two miles 
north of it. The inhabitants are principally bay-men. An 
Episcopal chapel was established here two or three year& 



218 TOWN OF ISLIP. 

since, connected with St. Mark's church at Islip. A Metho- 
dist chapel is also about being erected. The school-house 
belonging to the district which includes this hamlet together 
with the eastern part of Islip village, is a respectable two 
story building, and stands in the woods about a mile and a 
half west of here. The school numbers over a hundred, and 
employs two teachers. The business of ship-building and 
repairing was carried on here twenty years ago by Erastus 
Youngs, in whose honor the settlement was named. This 
enterprise, for some reason or other to us unaccountable, has 
been abandoned. We see no good reason why a flourishing 
village should not have been built up in this place. The 
depth of water up this river is said to be sufficient to float 
anything that navigates the bay. The river is wide and its 
bank comparatively abrupt. The surface of the neighbor- 
ing land is a beautiful plain, and the soil good. Nature has 
scarcely left a more convenient or desirable village site than 
here, upon the whole shore of the South Bay. As far as we 
can see, the great obstacle to its improvement has been the 
monopolizing grasp with which the soil has been held in a 
body together, by the successive proprietors of the whole 
tract. Now that this impediment has been to some extent re- 
moved we hope to see the spirit of progress revived here on a 
more magnificent scale than ever before. The " Deer Range 
Farm, " containing four hundred acres and a large mansion, 
beautifully situated in full view of the bay and beach hills, 
lies about half a mile south of here. This property has re- 
cently been purchased by J. Neale Plumb Esq. , and is to be 
improved as an elegant country residence. It will no doubt 
be made one of the finest on the island. The farm contain- 



TOWN OF ISLIP. 210 

mg the residence of Hon. William Nicoll adjoins it on the 
west. 

Oakdale is a name given, two or three years since, to the 
locality extending along and near the south "country road" 
from the Conetquot River eastward for a distance of two 
miles or more. It has a station on the South Side Railroad, 
and since the completion of that road a post-office has been 
established here. It contains one church, a store, a district 
school, and about forty dwellings, mostly scattered along the 
main road and upon a lane which runs down towards the bay. 
Near the residence of W. H. Ludlow, Esq., stands St. John's 
Episcopal church, the first house of worship erected within 
the limits of this town. This was built by the third William 
Nicolls, about ten years before the Revolution. Historians 
differ as to the exact date. The church stands in the midst 
of an ancient burying ground. In 1843 it was re-built, and 
consecrated by the bishop, July 6th of that year. 

The eastern boundary of Oakdale appears indefinite. If 
we place it at Greene's Brook, which seems to be the only 
suitable natural line, we must include another church- That 
is the Dutch Reform church, organized Dec. 19, 1866. The 
building, which stands a little west of Greene's Brook, is 
neat in appearance, of comfortable size, and was dedicated 
Nov. 11, 1867. 

Sayville is a thriving village of one thousand population, 
pleasantly situated near the bay, immediately east of Oakdale. 
The railroad station in the northern part is two and a quar- 
ter miles east of the latter point, and fifty miles from 
Brooklyn. There are three large general stores in the place, 
besides a number of shops. Ship-building and repairing is 



220 TOWN OF ISLEP. 

carried on by Francis Greene, whose yard contains two sets of 
"ways." The fisheries of the bay constitute the chief indus- 
trial enterprise and support of the place. Sayville has a 
good school, a hotel, and three medium sized churches, be- 
sides the Dutch Reform church, which we mentioned as 
being located between here and Oakdale. A Methodist Epis- 
copal chapel, connected with the church of that denomination 
at Patchogue was built here in 1846. About seven years ago 
a church society was organized here. The central part of 
Sayville is located near the point where two roads from east 
form a junction, and this church is located upon the northern 
limb of this fork. The public school building stands near it 
on the same road. This is a commodious two story edifice, 
the original part of which was built in 1859, at which time it 
stood scarcely second to any other like institution in the 
county. Its cost, at that time was about Si, 500. In 1871 it 
was enlarged. The school numbers an attendance of about 
two hundred, and employs three teachers. The Congrega- 
tional church, standing on the south branch of the "fork" 
was built as a chapel to the Cong, church of Patchogue in 
1318, or thereabout. The Cong, church of Sayville was or- 
ganized from the Patchogue church, Sept. 1, 1858, with forty 
members. An Episcopal chapel, belonging to St. John's 
church at Oakdale, was built in the eastern part of this vil- 
lage about six years ago. Sayville has a flourishing Division 
of Sons of Temperance, numbering about one hundred and 
forty members. In many respects it justly claims the honor 
of being the banner Division of the county. Sayville Lodge 
No. 322, I. O. O. F. was instituted with ten charter mem- 



TOWN OF ISLTP. 221 

bers, May 2, 1872, and numbers at present twenty-one 
members. 

Terry's Brook forms the dividing line between this village 
and Bayport, on the east. A grist-mill was once established 
upon this stream, but it has Long since been abandoned. 

Bayport is a pleasant little settlement in the extreme south- 
east corner of the town, containing two stores and six 
hundred inhabitants. Its former name was Middle Eoad, and 
until a few years past it was considered as properly a part of 
Sayville. A post-office has been established here, and a sta- 
tion on the railroad. The people are engaged princpally in 
farming and fishing. The enterprise of canning "American 
sardines " was undertaken here a year or two ago but did not 
succeed. Fish oil factories have been established on the 
shore of the bay near this place. 

One of the most note-worthy institutions of this place is 
its public school. This is a two-story building of handsome 
appearance and respectable dimensions pleasantly situated on 
the south main road, near the centre of the village. The 
school employs two teachers and numbers about one hundred 
and twenty-five scholars. 

A Methodist Episcopal church was organized here a few 
years since, and a house of worship is about to be erected. 
This church is supplied with ministerial service in connection 
with Sayville. 

Fire Island is the name given to the sand beach lying be- 
tween the bay and the ocean, nearly opposite the village of 
Bay Shore, distant about five miles. It has become one of 
the most favored and popular of the seaside resorts of Long 
Island, even holding rank among the celebrated watering 



222 TOWN OF ISLIP. 

places of the Atlantic sea board. The Surf Hotel the largest 
building in Suffolk County is said to be capable of accommo- 
dating fifteen hundred guests. During the summer season a 
steam ferry connects this place with Babylon, seven miles 
northwest. The first light house was built here in 1825, at a 
cost of $8,000. The present one was built in 1858. The 
tower is one hundred and fifty feet high, from its base, and 
the light one hundred and sixty-six feet above water. The 
light is a revolving one, and is visible fifteen to twenty miles 
at sea ; the lens of the first order. The beach upon which 
the institutions are located is on the east side of the inlet. 

Fire Island Inlet is the only opening on the whole south 
shore of the county through which navigation may pass be- 
tween the bay and ocean. The beach is constantly shifting, 
and the inlet is subject to correspondingly frequent changes 
of position. The inclination is westward. From testimony 
brought out by Thompson it appears that about the year 
1750, and perhaps for many years before, there were seven 
inlets east of Fire Island. During a great storm which oc- 
curred in the year 1700, it is said the sea made a sweep 
through the beach about nine miles wide, and the sand 
washed in formed what is now called Cedar Island. Fire 
Island Beach in 1760 or thereabout was only a sand bar, and 
was called by the Indians Seal Island, from the fact that it 
had been a favorite play-ground for those aquatic animals. 
Within the recollection even of middle aged men now living, 
who have had opportunity for observation, the inlet has 
moved near half a mile further west. 



CHAPTER XII. 



13KOOKHAVEN TOWN — HISTOEY AND DESCRIPTION. 



Brookhaven town, the largest in the county, occupies the 
breadth of the island from sound to ocean, and about six- 
teen miles of its length. It is bounded on the west by Smith- 
town and Islip, and on the east by Riverhead and Southamp- 
ton. Instead however of being in shape nearly square, as the 
above description might lead one to suppose, it has more the 
appearance of two parallelograms of about the same length, 
lying side by side, but the north one extending several miles 
further east. The surface along the north side of the town 
is hilly and elevated. A range of hills also extends through 
the middle, from east to west. The south half is level and 
comparatively low. Large tracts of salt meadows border the 
bay on the south side. The soil generally is moderately 
fertile ; in the northern part a heavy loam ; in the southern 
part a few grades lighter ; while through the middle a great 
variety of soils may be found, ranging from a stiff clay which 
has in many places been utilized for brick-making, to a light 
"blowy " sand, which a New York lawyer who had invested 
largely in it once declared " a warrantee deed woukl't hold." 
In this section the various grades of sand predominate. 
There are fields of this loose drifting matter where we have 
seen great holes in the ground, some fifteen feet or more in 
depth which had been blown out by the winds of a few suc- 
cessive years. The sand thus blown out is frequently lodged 



224. TOWN OF BEOOKHAVEN. 

in huge mounds like snow drifts, wherever a bush or a hedge 
fence induces its deposit. The lamented Horace Greeley in 
his address at the Suffolk County Agricultural Fair last 
October, advised the planting of the sterile wastes of Long 
Island with forest trees, and the use of gas lime as a fertilizer 
for that purpose. There is no question but these naked 
fields of barren sand could be occupied in this way more 
profitably than in any other. Though we are not competent 
to discuss the gas lime question, we may say there is no lack 
of evidence to show that some kinds of forest trees, espe- 
cially the pines will grow, and to a reasonable extent flourish 
upon these desert places. The greater part of this town is 
still covered with forest and scrub growth. The settlements 
are mostly along the line of the three "country roads ;" on 
the north side, through the middle, and on the south side. 
Between these ranges of settlements large tracts 
of wood-land intervene, the monotony of which is 
scarcely broken by any attempt at improvement. It is safe 
to say that the greater part of the best farming land in tlrh 
town is yet covered with scrub-oaks and timber. Immense 
quantities of cord-wood are cut and sent to market from 
these wooded plains, but the frequency of fires during the 
last forty years has seriously affected the growth of timber, 
and greatly diminished the extent of this industry. 

From the best authority we can find it appears the first 
settlement of Europeans in this town was made in the year 
1655, by a party of immigrants from Boston, Mass. The 
exact number of the first installment of settlers does not 
appear, but within two years from the date mentioned the 
number of men, most of them probably heads of families, 



TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEN. 225 

composing the colony was increased to fifty-four. The first 
settlement was made at Setauket, on the north side, near the 
head-quarters of the Setalcott tribe of Indians, from whom 
the northern part of the territory occupied by the town was 
purchased. The lands of the town were purchased of the 
Indians at different times, in tracts of various size, sometimes 
by individuals on their own account, by permission of the 
proprietors of the town, and sometimes by the proprietors in 
common through their authorized representatives. The first 
purchases from the natives appear to have extended only to 
the northern part of the present territory, while the 
greater part of the south half lay for several years without 
being occupied by the white immigrants. The town was 
first incorporated by a patent from Gov. Nicolls, March 13, 
16GG, confirming the title to all lands which had been bought, 
or should afterwards be bought of the natives, within the 
territory bounded on the west by a line running across the 
island at Stony Brook, and on the east by a line crossing the 
island at Wading Eiver. The names of Capt. John Tucker, 
Daniel Lane, Eichard Woodhull, Henry Perring, and John 
Jenner appear as trustees in this patent. At the time of this 
patent, and for several years afterward, it is probable that 
purchases of the Indians were confined mainly to the 
north half. November 19, 1675, the Setalcott Sachem, Gie, 
with four other principal men of the tribe, confirmed to the 
patentees of the town all former grants, and conveyed to 
Eichard Woodhull all the unsold land within the limits 
named in the patent as far south as the middle of the island. 
On the 23rd of the same month Eichard Woodhull transferred 
his title to these lands, thus acquired, to the inhabitants of 



226 TOWN OF BEOOKHAVEN. 

the town. This grant and confirmation of former grants 
appears to cover all the land claimed by the Setaleott tribe. 
The south side of the town was claimed by, and purchased of 
the Pochough or Patchogue tribe. A tract of land in the 
southwest part of the town was purchased by John Winthrop 
in 1666, and the title confirmed by patent March 29, 1680. 
This tract extended from the creek at Blue Point called by 
the Indians Namkee, east to a certain " fresh water pond in 
Starr's neck, at Accombamack, " which is now the western 
part of Bellport. This patent covered five "necks " of land 
on the south side and extended back to the middle of the 
island. 

A tract of land extending eastward from Connecticut 
River to Mastic River, and north to the middle of the 
island, was purchased of the Indians by Col. William Smith 
in May, 1691, and a patent for the same was granted by Gov. 
Fletcher Oct. 9, 1693. This patent also included what is 
now known as Strong's Neck, then called Little Neck, at 
Setauket, which had been purchased by Col. Smith Oct. 
22, 1686 ; also "all the islands in the bay between the main 
land and the beach, from a certain gut or inlet called Hunt- 
ington East-Gut, to a place called Cuptwauge, being South- 
ampton west bounds." The lands included in this patent 
were confirmed under the title of St. George's Manor, and a 
considerable part of these lands remain at the present day in 
the possession of the descendants of the original patentee. 
The tract of land reaching from the eastern bounds of Col. 
Smith's former patent to the line of Southampton was con- 
firmed to him by another patent from. Gov. Fletcher in 1697. 
His claim upon this territory being sharply denied by several 



TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEN. 227 

settlers who had purchased land of the Indians within its 
bounds it appears that he succeeded in holding but a small 
portion of it. This tract, called the Moriches Patentship, 
and lying outside of the defined limits of this or any other 
town, appears to have remained in that loose condition until 
within a few years of the revolution, when by request of the 
people living there it was recognized as part of this town. 

A second patent was issued for this town by Gov. Dongan, 
which included all former grants, Dec. 27, 1686. This patent 
named John Palmer, Richard Woodhull, Samuel Eburne, 
Andrew Gibb, William Satterly, Thomas Jenner, and Thomas 
Helme as trustees, to continue in office until others should 
be chosen in their stead. 

The lands of the town which were purchased by the fifty- 
four proprietors in common were at different times, and as 
occasion demanded, divided among them. In some of these 
divisions fifty-five shares were made, the extra one being set 
apart for gospel purposes. As was the case in many other 
towns, the early settlers of Brookhaven regarded the support 
of the gospel ministry as an important consideration which 
duty coupled with the administration of civil affairs, and pro- 
vision was accordingly made for it. The first meeting-houses 
were erected and the first ministers employed and paid by the 
town. 

This town placed itself under the protection of Connecticut 
in 1659, and in 1662 became a part of that colony. This con- 
nection was broken off' by the conquest of 1664, after which it 
came under the Duke's government of New York with the 
other towns of Long Island. 

" At a town meeting, December 18, 1685, it was voted and 
agreed that Mr. Samuel Eburne shall go to Yorke, to confer 



228 TOWN OF BKOORHAVEN. 

with the Governor about our lands within our patent ; and 
to get a new patent, and that the town is willing to find the 
Governor twenty sheep for a present forthwith." 

"At a legal town meeting, July ye 13th, 1687, warned by 
Mr. Justice Woodhull, it was voted and agreed that fcen 
pounds a-year shall be payd to the maintenance of a School- 
Master for the future, and that the trustees agree with Mr. 
Francis Williamson to officiate as School-Master for thirty 
pounds a-year, twenty pounds whereof is to be payd by the 
children." 

" May 7, 1687, at a town meeting it was voted and agreed 
that the Indians should be disarmed, and to surrender them- 
selves upon demand, otherwise to be looked upon as enemies. 
Ten men were chosen to go to ye south to disarm ym, and 
their arms to be left at Capt. Woodhull's." 

The names of Richard Floyd, Richard Woodhull, and Col. 
Wm. Smith are among the most prominent in the early his- 
tory of this town, and their respective descendants have at 
different times occupied positions of honor and public trust, 
not only in this town, but in other and wider spheres. Rich- 
ard Woodhull, it appears, was the surveyor for the primitive 
colony and was often intrusted with important public com- 
missions. Col. William Smith, the patentee of St. George's 
Manor, was born at Higham-Ferrers, in Northamptonshire, 
England, Feb. 2, 1655, and in 1675 was appointed governor of 
Tangiers by Charles II ; in which position he continued till 
1683. In remembrance of this circumstance his descendants 
to the present time are known as the Tangier Smiths, by way 
of distinction from other families of the same name. He 
arrived at New York Aug. 6, 1686, and soon after visited 
Setauket, where in the following year he purchased Little 
Neck from the proprietors of the town, who at that time hap- 
hened to be entertaining a dispute about the premises. His 
subsequent purchases of land in this town have already been 
mentioned. On the accession of Henry Slaughter to the 



TOWN OF BPwOOKHAVEN. 229 

gubernatorial chair of New York, in March 1691, he appointed 
Col. Smith one of the members of his council, which position 
he continued to occupy until his death, Feb. 18, 1705. In 
1691 he was also appointed an associate judge of the supreme 
court of the province ; and in 1692 was appointed chief justice 
of that court, which office he held until removed by Gov. 
Bellamont in 1700. At this time he was president of the 
council, and on the death of the governor in March 1701, and 
in the absence of John Nanfan, the lieutenant governor, he 
was promoted by virtue of his position to the head of the gov- 
ernment. June 8, 1693, he was commissioned to succeed Col. 
Youngs in command of the militia of Suffolk county. He was 
also appointed by Gov. Slaughter one of the commissioners 
who tried and convicted Jacob Leisler, the usurper. William 
Smith the third, grandson of Col. "William, and son of Major 
William, was a man of considerable rank during the days of 
the revolution. He was for many years a judge of the court 
of common pleas, and a member of the first provincial Con- 
gress. His son, Gen. John Smith, was a member of the con- 
vention that adopted the Constitution of the United States in 
1788, and afterward was elected member of Congress, and 
after serving four years in that capacity was returned to the 
United States Senate from this state. He died in 1816. 
Richard Floyd, the head of another prominent family in the 
history of this town and the State, emigrated from Wales in 
1654. He was a magistrate in ihe town, and a colonel in the 
militia. His son Richard married a daughter of Col. William 
Nicolls of Islip. Both he and his son Richard Floyd the 
third, according to the inscription on their tombs in the old 
Setauket burying ground, were colonels of the county and 



230 TOWN OP BEOOKHAVEN. 

judges of the court of common pleas. A sister of Richard 
Floyd the third was the wife of Col. Thomas Dongan, gov- 
ernor of the province. General William Floyd, a representa- 
tive of this family, of the third American born generation, 
was a native of Mastic, and a prominent man in the province. 
He was a delegate from this province to the first continental 
congress, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. He was born Dec. 17, 1734, and died Aug. 4, 
1821. A daughter of his became the wife of Col. Benjamin 
Tallmadge, of Litchfield, Conn., some of whose exploits dur- 
ing the revolution are prominent in our history of that time. 
General Nathaniel Woodhull was a descendant of Richard 
"Woodlmll, of whom we have spoken, and was born at Mastic 
Dec. 30, 1722. His wife was a sister of Gen. William Floyd. 
Gen. Woodhull entered the field with the rank of a major, in 
the army under Gen. Abercrombie, during the war between 
Great Britain and France on the Canada frontier. It is.sup- 
posed that he joined the army in 1758, and served in the as- 
sault upon Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and also in Brad- 
street's expedition against Ft. Frontenac the same season. 
In 1760 he was promoted to the.rank of Colonel of the third 
regiment of New York troops, and engaged under Gen. Am- 
herst in the expedition against Montreal which resulted in the 
reduction of Canada. After this he retired to private life, 
which he enjoyed until the difficulties which preceded the rev- 
olution called him to take a leading position in the great 
struggle for liberty. In 1769 he was elected to the assembly, 
and during the continuance of the colonial government was a 
faithful advocate of the wishes of his constituents of Suffolk 
county for the preservation of ''their freedom and the com- 



TOWN OF BEOOKHAVEN. 231 

mand over their own purses." Col. Woodhull was at the 
head of the delegation from Suffolk county in the first pro- 
vincial congress which met in New York May 22, 1775, and 
on the 28th of August following was elected president of that 
body. He likewise retained the same position-in the provin- 
cial congress of 1776. The congress of 1775 re-organized the 
militia of the colony and appointed Col. Woodhull brigadier 
general of the brigade which was formed of the militia of Suf- 
folk and Queens counties. On the 10th of August, 1776, Gen. 
Woodhull left his seat in the provincial congress or conven- 
tion — then in session at White Plains — to take an active part 
in the military operations which were then being commenced 
upon and about Long Island. While waiting at Jamaica for 
reinforcements to assist in collecting and driving eastward the 
cattle on the western part of the island, so as to secure them 
beyond the reach of the enemy, and further delaying a re- 
treat, in the hope of receiving instructions from the conven- 
tion, he was overtaken by a party of British troops on the 
28th of August, and made prisoner, at the same time being 
subjected to such barbarous treatment at the hands of his cap- 
tors that he died from the effects of his wounds on the 20th of 
the following month. 

Several other members of these ancient and illustrious fam- 
ilies are worthy of notice, but as biography is not an object in 
this article we must forbear. 

At a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of this 
town, June 8, 1775, called by the prospects of political trou- 
bles then imminent, a "committee of observation," consisting 
of sixteen persons, was elected to act for the town in the pro- 
spective deliberations on political matters. According to in- 



232 TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEN. 

struction this committee met to organize at Coram on the 
27th of June, the following members being present : John 
Woodlrull, Thomas Helme, John Robinson, Thomas Fanning, 
Lieut. Wm. Brewster, Noah Hallock, Joseph Brown, John 
Woodlrull, Jr. , Nathaniel Roe, Jr. , Capt . Jona. Baker, Daniel 
Roe, Samuel Thompson of Manor St. George, Wm. Smith 
and Jonah Hulse of the Moriches Patentship, and Capt. 
Josiah Smith. John Woodhull was chosen chairman and 
Samuel Thompson clerk, and the following resolutions were 
passed : 

" That we express our loyalty to His Majesty, King George 
III, and acknowledge him as our rightful lord and sovereign." 

' ' That it is the opinion of this committee that the several 
Acts passed in the British Parliament, for the purpose of 
raising a revenue in America; also the Acts for stopping the 
Port of Boston ; for altering their charter and government ; 
for establishing the Roman Catholic religion, and abolishing 
the equitable system of English laws and erecting in their 
stead French Despotic Government in Canada ; as also the 
Act for restraining the New England fishery ; and further de- 
claring they have power to make laws binding on us in all 
cases whatsoever, are contrary to the constitution and subver- 
sive of our legal rights as English freemen and British sub- 
jects." 

"That we will use our utmost endeavor strictly to adhere 
to the Resolutions of the Honorable Continental Congress, 
and to comply with the injunctions of our Provincial Conven- 
tion, which (under God) we hope is the most effectual means 
to obtain redress of our present grievances, and save us from 
impending ruin." 

"We do unanimously make this our apology to the re- 
spectable public and to our several Congresses, ihat we have 
come so late into the Congressional measures, and hope a 
veil may be cast over our past conduct ; for our remiss- 
ness was not for want of patriotic spirit, but because opposi- 
tion ran so high in some parts of this town, which arose, we 
verily believe, from want of better information." 

"It is unanimously resolved, that we will keep a strict 
watch that no provisions be transported from the bounds oi 



TOWN OF BIJOOKHAVEN. 233 

our constituents, so as to full into the hands of our enemies." 
"Ordered, that the proceedings of this meeting be printed 
by John Holt." 

The early organization, the customs, and regulations of 
this town resembled in most respects those of other English 
towns on the island ; though there appears to have been less 
of that strict Puritanism and systematic unity manifested in 
the acts of its settlers than the history of some of the eastern 
towns exhibits. 

In 1703 the trustees of the toY» r n passed a regulation pre- 
scribing the order in which the inhabitants should be seated 
in the church. It appears that at that time the salary of the 
minister was raised by voluntary subscriptions from the 
inhabitants, though the management of church affairs was 
under the care of the people in their political capacity. 
Grants of land were sometimes made by the proprietors 
to ministers in consideration of their services. During the 
firot years of the settlement a house was erected which served 
both as a place for holding town meetings and a house of 
worship. 

The first settlements were made along the north side, and 
most of the lands being divided among the proprietors in 
long lots extending from the north side to the middle of the 
island, tradition says that as the strength of the coljn-y in- 
creased by the maturity of the younger inhabitants, the 
paternal settlers adopted the custom of establishing their sons 
upon the south end of their respective lots. If this be true it 
is probable that the settlements along the middle country road 
were made or begun not long after those on the north side. 
Another tradition, that settlement was commenced in the 
middle of the town about the year 1700 ; the rambling, dis- 



234 TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEN. 

connected manner in which this section of country is settled ; 
the evidences of antiquity discernible here ; and the apparent 
fact that but little natural inducement for settlement could 
have existed ; all seem to agree in pointing towards the cor- 
rectness of that tradition. 

Stony Brook, on the border of Smithtown is a village of 
700 inhabitants, on the east side of Stony Brook Harbor, in 
the northwest part of the town. The locality was called 
by the Indians Wopowog, and from the immense quantities 
of shells found in the neighborhood, is supposed to have been 
a favorite place of residence with the natives. It is on the 
line of the Smithtown and Port Jefferson Bailroad, and also 
has a good harbor, from which a considerable coasting trade 
is carried on. Ship-building is engaged in to some extent, 
and a new set of marine railways have recently been laid 
down for the accommodation of repairs. Large quantities of 
cordwood have beeD shipped from this port during years past. 
An ancient mill site is situated on a small stream of water 
which empties into the harbor at this point. The village 
lines a single street, about a mile and a half in length and 
running an average direction of north and south. 

A few elegant residences have recently been fitted up by 
the heirs of the late Jonas Smith, who was a wealthy ship 
owner of this place. The village contains two flourishing 
district schools, one in the northern part and the other in the 
southern part, two hotels, one of which, however, is at pres- 
ent closed to that purpose and occupied as a tenement house, 
five stores, and a number of work-shops. The manufacture 
of pianos was carried on some years ago by C. S. Seabury. 
Two docks extend into the harbor from the lower part of the 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 235 

village, and a line of packets communicate with New York. 
The " flats" of this harbor abound with that species of shell- 
fish known as soft, or long clams. A few years ago a company 
embarked here in the enterprise of desiccating these bi- valves 
and condensing them by a process which would warrant the 
preservation of their good qualities for a number of years. 
This enterprise has been discontinued. A Methodist church 
stands on the high ground in the northeast part. The build- 
ing is of handsome proportions, and was erected in 1860. A 
former one was built in 1817, which was sold and converted 
into a dwelling about the time the new one was placed 
in its stead. Stony Brook Division, S. of T. , meets in the 
basement of this church, and has a membership of 111. 
A weekly newspaper, the Independent Press was started in 
this village by H. Markham, in 1865. It was moved to Port 
Jefferson in 1868, where it is still continued. 

The surface in this neighborhood is hilly, some of it con- 
siderably elevated, and largely occupied by farms. About a 
mile east of Stony Brook the colored people have a small 
meeting-house called "Bethel" church. Crane Neck Point 
is a huge shoulder of land projecting three miles into the 
sound, forming the eastern shore of the cove called Smith- 
town Bay, from the eastern part of which Stony Brook Har- 
bor projects inland. Sherawoug was a name given by the 
Indians to a locality on the east side of the harbor. Crane 
Neck and Old Field together form one "neck " or peninsula, 
the former name being commonly applied to the western part, 
and the latter to the eastern part. Large quantities of gravel 
are taken from the beach at Crane Neck and shipped to New 
York and other cities, where it is used in furnaces for melting 



236 TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 

iron, in laying gravel roofs, and in the manufacture of sand- 
paper and glass. Fifteen to twenty thousand tons are taken 
from here during the season, which usually lasts from the 
first of May to the first of October. Vessels are " laid on " 
and the gravel, after being screened is run on board in hand 
barrows. The gravel is worth $1 a ton, on board here, and 
brings $2.50 a ton in New York. Flax Pond Bay, on the 
sound shore, near the western extremity of this peninsula, 
was formerly disconnected from the sound, and contained 
fresh water. It was used by the early inhabitants as a place 
for rotting flax, from which circumstance it derives its name. 
It lies in the middle of a swampy valley. Soon after the 
commencement of the present century a connection was 
effected between the water of this pond and the sound, after 
which the water became salt, as also the grass on the meadows 
adjoining. 

Setauket, the first settlement in the town, and for many 
years the "seat of government," lies near the head of Setauket 
Harbor about four miles northeast of Stony Brook, and two 
miles from the sound. The village is scattered over a large 
extent of territory, including a number of tributary settle- 
ments. It comprises two principal centers, one called Se- 
tauket, or "up town," and the other East Setauket, each 
containing a post-office, two or three stores, and a few shops. 
The former is located about the head of Conscience Bay, 
otherwise Old Field Bay, and the latter, one mile east at the 
head of Setauket Harbor. A considerable part of the western 
settlement is built upon the banks of a mill pond, on a 
little stream which discharges into the head of the bay. A 
mill was built upon this stream about the middle of the last 



TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEN. 237 

century. Another site, a little lower down is still occupied. 
Before any mills had been erected in this town the people 
were in the habit of shipping their grain across the sound to 
be made into flour. The first mill was established in 1690, 
upon a small stream at the head of the harbor in the eastern 
part of the village. This was abandoned about a hundred 
years ago, and nearly all traces of the dam and even the 
stream are now almost obliterated. A highway crosses where 
the pond once was, and a number of buildings are located 
upon it. A swamp and a little brook remain. 

The first settlement is supposed to have been made in the 
neighborhood of the "Green." This is an open field, or 
common, containing perhaps an acre of ground, located 
between the two main centers, before mentioned, and set 
apart at a very early period for public purposes. The prim- 
itive settlement was for some time called Ashford, and the 
harbor Cromwell Bay. The settlement, as we have pre- 
viously stated was commenced here in 1655. 

When the band of Puritan forefathers whose names are 
preserved as the first settlers of this town commenced to 
set the machinery of cizilizatlon in motion here, one of the 
first things they did was to build a house for the accommoda- 
tion of their town meetings, and the worship of God. In 
those days the highest law (humanly speaking) was the voice 
of the people, and they frequently assembled to consider and 
adopt measures and regulations for the government of the 
little colony. Manifesting their faith by their works, they 
frequently evinced in their public acts, a wholesome regard 
for that higher than human law — the law of God. For 
several years before the settlement of a minister in this eon- 



238 TOWN OF BEOOKHAVEN. 

gregation religious services were conducted by Mr. Samuel 
Eburne. Feb. 2, 1671, the people resolved to build a meet- 
ing-house. The resolution was very soon carried into effect, 
and a building twenty-eight feet square was erected on a site 
adjoining the "Green." This stood until a new one was 
erected on or near the same spot, in the year 1715. This 
church was standing at the time of the revolution, and was 
then appropriated to military uses by the British soldiers 
who had taken possession of it. More fortunate than some 
other Presbyterian churches of that period, however, it was 
allowed to remain standing, and though considerably 
damaged it was with some repairs continued in use until the 
year 1811, when it was removed to make room for the pres- 
ent one. This, a rather commodious structure, was com- 
menced immediately after, and dedicated May 24, 1812. It 
stands upon the east side of the " Green," in the old burying 
ground. 

This burial place was no doubt the first established in the 
town. August 9th, 1714, Col. Bichard Floyd, "in considera- 
tion of his good affection and desire to advance the public 
interest of the "town, did freely and voluntarily give, for the 
use and benefit of a public burying-place, half an acre of land, 
to be laid out of his home lot, adjoining the old burial-place ; 
the inhabitants and their heirs maintaining the fence adjoin- 
ing the land given by the said Floyd." Since then additions 
have been made to it, so that now it contains several acres of 
ground and a great many graves, among which, the most 
conspicuous ancient ones are those of early members of the 
Floyd and Woodhull families. Over two of these (graves of 
the early Floyds) monumental tables have been placed. They 



TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEN. 239 

stand a few feet apart, and it is said the grave of the original 
Richard Floyd was made between them, but during the 
revolution the British soldiers who were quartered here 
leveled the grave, pulled up the head stone and laid it across 
from one table to the other, and used the arrangement with a 
fire under side, for cooking and baking. One of the oldest 
stones in this ground, that bears a legible inscription contains 
the following , — " Here lyes ye Body of William Jayne, born 
(at Bristol Eng.) Jan'ry ye 25th, 1618, Dec'd March ye 24th, 
1714, ^E 96." This is verbatim, but in the original "ye" s 
the e is placed over the y, in the true old fashioned style. In 
another part of the ground, within an enclosure of iron 
fence, stands the monument erected a few years since to the 
memory of the late Jonas Smith of Stony Brook. This mon- 
ument is of a coarse gray material, and is about twenty feet 
in height and four feet square at the base. One of the highly 
polished faces of the die contains the following simple inscrip- 
tion :— " Jonas Smith, Born, July 9, 1794; Died, Oct. 23, 
1867." 

On the northwest border of the "Green" stands Caroline 
Episcopal church, the first church of that denomination 
erected on the island. The building is remarkably well 
preserved, considering its great age, having stood here more 
than a hundred and forty years. It was built in the year 
1730, and has been several times repaired. In 1734, the 
town gave to this church a piece of ground surrounding it, 
for a burial-place or church yard. That yard is now well 
filled with graves. 

On the centre of the "Green" stands a district school 
house of moderate size and very neat appearance, recently 



240 TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEN. 

built to replace an old one which stood near the same spot. 
An old building, used as an arsenal in the days when militia 
" trainings" were in practice, was torn away several years ago. 
Across the fields, perhaps a quarter of a mile eastward 
from the Presbyterian church, stands the old parsonage 
house, in a quiet retreat near the harbor. This was built 
according to the record of the order, "upon the land that 
was Goodman Moger's," and also set apart "to remain a 
parsonage house to perpetuity." To this Mr. Prime, writing 
nearly thirty years ago, rather jocosely adds, " and its pres- 
ent aspect affords conclusive evidence, that hitherto the vote 
has been maintained." During the past year the old house 
has been relieved from further duty as a parsonage, and a 
new one built on the road near the church. 

A handsome Methodist Episcopal church, located nearly 
half way between the two village centres, was built in 1870. 
A small chapel, erected upon this site in 1843, was formerly 
used as a house of worship by this society.. 

A large brick building, say forty by one hundred feet, and 
four stories high, stands on a hill near this church. It was 
built about fifteen years ago, and for several years occupied as 
a piano manufactory by Kobert Nunns. It now stands idle. 
The village of Setauket covers an area of about two miles 
square, and contains a population of about fourteen hundred. 
The people are engaged in farming, ship-building, and "going 
to sea." The surface of the country is hilly, and the soil 
moderately fertile. Some fine farms are situated in the 
vicinity. Ship-building is carried on to considerable extent 
on the harbor near East Setauket. The largest vessel ever 
built here was the ship Adorna, of seventeen hundred tons 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 241 

capacity, launched from the yard of David Bayles in 1870. 
A handsome two story school house stands in the eastern part 
of the village. It was built in the year 1866, and is a credita- 
ble institution ; representing with good effect the enterprise 
and intelligence of the people. The school numbers one 
hundred and fifty scholars, and employs three teachers. A 
Division of the Sons of Temperance was organized in this 
village in 1868. It now reports a membership of sixty-six. 

A weekly newspaper called the Long Island Star, was es- 
tablished here, in 1866, by James S. Evans, Jr. During its 
palmy days it enjoyed a liberal support, and was remarkably 
successful. In 1869 it was moved to Port Jefferson, and in 
1870 across the island to Patchogue, where after a few issues 
it ceased to twinkle. 

Nassakeag, modernly called South Setauket, is a locality in 
the neighborhood of a swamp, two miles south of the western 
centre of this village. A "Free Christian" church was 
erected here in 1869, and the society established through the 
efforts of Rev. Ephraim Hal]ock who has ever since supplied 
the pulpit. * 

Norwood is a hamlet of less than half a dozen houses, about 
two miles south of East Setauket. 

The settlement of Old Field consists of about twenty-five 
houses scattered along a road which leads from the west 
side of the mill-pond at Setauket, north and east, a distance 
of thee miles. This road opens through a section of beauti- 
ful farming land, which lies between the northwest shore of 
Conscience Bay and the Sound. On Old Field Point, called 
by the Indians Cometico, being the northernmost extremity 
of this peninsula, a light-house was built in 1823. It cost 



242 TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN, 

$3,500 ; was re-fitted in 1855 ; has a white towsr, thirty-four 
feet high ; lens of the fourth order ; and gives a fixed light at 
an elevation of sixty-seven feet above water level, visible 
thirteen miles distant. Ship-building was carried on several 
years ago upon the western shore of Conscience Bay. 

Between this bay and Setauket Harbor lies Strong's Neck, 
formerly called Little Neck, and by the Indians Minasseroke. 
It is connected with the neighboring land by a low isthmus 
on the southwest part, sometimes flooded by the tide. This 
beautiful peninsula contains four hundred and eighty acres, 
the principal part of which is improved. It is supposed that 
here was the royal seat and a favorite residence of the Setal- 
cott Indians. This neck was purchased of the town proprie- 
tors by Col. Williain Smith, Oct. 22, 1686, and afterward 
included in his patent for St. George's Manor. It now 
belongs to the estate of the late Hon. Selah B. Strong, one 
of his descendants. 

Dyer's Neck, called by the Indians Poquott, lies between 
Setauket and Port Jefferson Harbors. These harbors and 
Conscience Bay have a common entrance from the Sound. 

Nestling cosily in the bottom of a deep valley, Port Jeffer- 
son appears to the vision of a traveler as a little world of busy 
life all hid away by itself among the rugged hills that sur- 
round it. Since the commencement of the present century 
it has grown from a little hamlet of less than half a dozen 
houses to a village of about two thousand inhabitants, and is 
to-day one of the most important centres of trade in Suffolk 
County. In some parts of our country it is true, villages have 
sprung up in the primitive wilderness to like proportions in 
a year or two, but such mushroom productions are always 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 243 

stimulated by some great excitement or peculiar inducement 
not found here. Few villages without natunal or artificial 
stimulus have made greater progress during the last half a 
century than this. It lies at the head of a beautiful harbor, 
two miles east of Setauket, and at the present eastern termi- 
nus of the Smithtown and Port Jefferson Eailroad. The 
Indian name of the locality was Souwassett, which was at an 
early period set aside for the characteristic title of Drowned 
Meadow. The natural condition of the site was unfavorable 
for building upon, being composed mainly of salt marshes 
overflowed by the tide, and steep hill-sides. Perseverance 
and hard labor, however, have accomplished much toward 
improving the situation, by digging down the hills and filling 
up the marshes. Still the greater hills remain, as they ever 
must, to give a tint of romance and wild beauty to the sur- 
rounding scenery. In the matter of the size, beauty, and 
grandeur of its enconrpassing hills, Port Jefferson can hardly 
be placed in the shade of any village on the island. From 
some points nearly the whole village can be seen at a glance, 
the buildings on the opposite hill-side rising step by step 
above each other, like the side of a huge amphitheatre. The 
business of the village is confined to the low ground, the 
elevated portions being occupied by dwellings. Some of 
these are of tasty design, and display considerable architect- 
ural grace. There are three main avenues of travel leading 
into the place ; one from each of the three land-ward sides. 
The one from the south forms the main street of the village. 
This and most of the other streets are narrow and crooked. The 
harbor is one of the finest on the Long Island coast, though 
it is a matter of regret that this remark cannot include its 



244 TOWN OF BEOOKHAVEN. 

entrance. Appropriations from Congress have been made to 
the amount o£ $30,000, for the improvement of this entrance, 
and the work of building a break-water to protect it from be- 
ing obstructed by drifting sand or gravel, has been commenced. 
The completion of this work is looked forward to as the 
"good time coming" for the commercial interests of the 
place. Regular lines of packets make communication with 
New York City, and Bridgeport, Conn. Several attempts 
have been made to establish steamboat connection with New 
York, but these enterprises, generally after brief existence, 
have been abandoned. It is probable, however, that after 
the completion of improvements around the entrance to the 
harbor they will be resumed, and may be made permanently 
successful. A steam ferry, making two round trips daily 
between this place and Bridgeport, has been in operation two 
seasons. Land communication with the outside world was 
formerly effected by stage lines connecting with the Long 
Island Railroad at Wave ly Station, ten miles distant. The 
railroad extension to this place, which was put in operation 
last January [1873] is greeted by the traveling public as a 
much desired relief from the tedious stage routes of the past. 

Ship-building was commenced here in 1797 by Capt. John 
Wilsie. At that time there were only five houses within the 
present limits of the village. It was then, and for several 
years after, important only as a landing from which cord- wood 
was taken by the small sloops which frequented the sound, to 
the New York market. By the year 1812 the number of 
houses had increased to nineteen. During the war of that 
year and the two or three succeeding years, the shipiDing of 
this harbor was harassed and considerably damaged by tha 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 245 

British cruisers which sailed up and down the sound. A small 
fortification was erected near the northern extremity of Dyer's 
Neck, overlooking the west side of the harbor, and this was 
mounted with a single gun capable of throwing a 32-pound 
ball. On one occasion seven sloops were taken from the har- 
bor under cover of night, by two English frigates, the 
"Indemnity " and the "Pabmoon." In working them out 
of the harbor one of the sloops ran aground on the "flats," 
and was set fire to and burned to the water's edge. The 
others, or at least most of them were afterward ransomed by 
their respective owners. 

About the year 1836 the progress of this village received a 
fresh impetus, and the ship-building enterprise was pushed 
forward with greater energy. The present name, Port Jeffer- 
son was adopted, and the forndations of future prosperity 
were established. Among the names that are held in pleasant 
remembrance in connection with the history of that period, 
one of the most prominent is that of Capt. William L. Jones, 
to whose zealous and well-directed efforts for the promotion 
of its interests the place is much indebted. 

As we have already intimated the chief support of this 
village is its ship-building. This enterprise is carried on 
more extensively than it is in any other port on the Long 
Island shore. There are seven yards in which vessels of large 
size are built, and these are almost constantly occupied. Also 
seven sets of marine railways are employed for hauling-out 
vessels to be re-built, repaired, or painted. About two hun- 
dred men are at the present time employed in this industry 
and its accessory branches. One of the largest vessels ever 
built here was the bark Nomad, of about seven hundred tons, 



246 TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEN. 

launched in the year 1872, from the yard of James M. Bayles 
& Son. 

Besides the support which this village derives from the 
ship-building interest, it is an important commercial centre, 
conveniently situated in the midst of a large district of smaller 
villages and agricultural hamlets. It contains about twenty 
stores, including several dealing in specialties of drugs and 
medicines, boots and shoes, dry goods, clothing, and grocer- 
ies, also a large quota of the various shops and offices usually 
found in a flourishing country village. 

In the centre of the village, on opposite sides of "Hotel 
Square," stand the two principal hotels, — the Port Jefferson 
Hotel and the Townsend House. A small part of the latter 
house is said to be nearly two hundred years old, having once 
been occupied by members of the Koe family who were among 
the early inhabitants of the neighborhood. Though its 
ownership has passed out of the original name, it has ever 
since been held by descendants of that family. 

The celebrated carriage factory of E. Tuthill, located in 
this village, may fairly be regarded as one of its most promi- 
nent institutions. Mr. Tuthill started the business here in 
the year 1855, with a capital of about $150, besides an ordi- 
nary out-fit of tools with which to carry on the trade. From 
that very modest beginning the business has been gradually 
increased until it now ranks among the principal manufactur- 
ing establishments on the island. Fifteen to twenty skilled 
workmen are constantly employed in the various departments, 
and the annual sales of work amount to more than thirty 
thousand dollars. Specimens of carriages from this shop 
have repeatedly taken the highest premiums at the agricul- 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 217 

ural fairs of this county and Queens, and have invariably 
taken the palm over all others wherever exhibited. In some 
instances they have been brought into competition with those 
of New York and Brooklyn manufacturers. Among the varie- 
ties of work done here may be mentioned photograph cars, 
farm wagons, stages, elegant hearses, coaches, phaetons, bug- 
gies, skeletons, and numberless other styles of vehicle which 
from ignorance of technical names we are unable to specify. 

Among the other important manufacturing enterprises of 
the village are the SuWasset Steam Flouring Mills, a steam 
moulding and planing mill, and a pump and block manufac- 
tory, the machinery of which is driven by the tide as it flows 
in and out upon the meadow at the head of the harbor. 

Two wharves project into the water from the northern part 
of the village, and another from the neighborhood of a small 
tributary settlement upon the western shore of the harbor. 

A Methodist Episcopal church, the first house of worship in 
the village, stands in the eastern part, on Thompson Street. 
It was erected in 1836. Its site is about to be changed. 

The Baptist church was built in the year 1855, by a Congre- 
gational society, and was purchased by the present denomina- 
tion in 1861. It occupies a pleasant location in a central part 
of the village, looking down " Hotel Square." 

A Presbyterian church was erected on the west side of 
Main Street in 1854, which until within a few years past was 
connected in its ministerial service with the old church at 
Setauket. 

The Public School of this place ranks among the foremost 
of educational institutions in Suffolk County. It occupies 
two buildings, adjoining each other. The smaller one of 



248 TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEN. 

these formerly accommodated the whole school, but in 1863 
the necessity for more room having become so great, the larger 
one, a spacious building of two high stories was added. The 
school employs four teachers, and has an attendance of three 
hundred and fifty scholars. 

The Independent Press, a seven-column weekly newspaper, 
first started at Stony Brook on a smaller scale, was moved to 
this village in July, 1868, and is still published here by H. 
Markham, its founder. 

The Long Island Star, whose existence commenced at 
Setauket and ended at Patchogue, was published in this vil- 
lage from July 1869, to August 1870. 

Our Own, a monthly sheet devoted to the interests of the 
order of Sons of Temperance, was published here a few. 
months in 1870. 

The Long Island Leader, a handsome nine-column weekly, 
was started here April 12th, 1873, under the management of 
Winfield S. Overton, and its eminent success thus far gives 
promise of a prosperous future. 

Port Jefferson Division of the Sons of Temperance, one of 
the largest and most prosperous in the county, numbers about 
two hundred members in "good and regular standing." It 
has a large and well furnished room, over the store of J. M . & 
G. F. Bayles, at the foot of Main Street. 

Suffolk Lodge, F. & A. M., was first instituted at Smith- 
town, in 1797. It was re-organized at Port Jefferson in 1856, 
and numbers about one hundred and forty members. 

On the west side of the harbor, ranged along the side hill 
which rises abruptly from the line of high water, is a detached 



TOWN Of BEOOKHAVEN. 249 

wing of the village known as the West Side. Two ship-yards 
and a wharf are located in this vicinity. 

"Brick Kiln " is a tract of waste land, rising and extending 
back from the salt meadows that skirt the west side of the vil- 
lage. Here is an inexhaustible mine of clay, upon which 
several attempts have been made to utilize it, but without 
permanent success. The clay has the appearance of being a 
very fine article, and no doubt when it is applied to the use 
for which it is best adapted, whatever that may be, it will 
prove a source of considerable profit to its owners. 

"Mittyville" is a local name given to a small settlement about 
half way up the hill on the road running south from the 
village. It occupies a comparatively level step, and takes its 
name from an eccentric old lady who was one of its first 
inhabitants. 

Cumsewogue is a farming district upon the high level plain 
about a mile south of the village centre. The railroad depot 
is located here, and the vicinity is rapidly improving. It con- 
tains several handsome residences. 

In this locality Cedar Hill Cemetery occupies one of the 
highest elevations in the whole region. This "silent city" 
was established in 1859, and considering the short time it has 
had for growth and improvement presents a fine appearance. 
It occupies a little more than thirteen acres and has many 
well kept burial plats, and several handsome monuments. 
The first grave made here was that of Mrs. Hulse, wife of 
Charles L. Hulse. The shaft of one of the most conspicuous 
monuments in this cemetery, a fluted cylinder, is said to have 
once done duty as a pillar in the front of Barnum's Museum 
building on the corner of Broadway and Ann Street, New 



250 TOWN OF EEOOKHAVEN. 

York. The summit of the hill in the midst of this cemetery 
commands a most beautiful and extended prospect of the ad- 
joining landscape. Looking northward, below you lies the 
village of Port Jefferson with its hundreds of busy mechanics 
whose lively hammer-chorus echoes through these grand old 
hills from morning till night; just beyond, the harbor with its 
sh pping is spread out before you; and still further the blue 
waters of the sound, dotted here and there with a sail, stretches 
far and wide, until it is reliaved by the rugged outline of the 
Connecticut shore in the hazy distance. On your left the 
green fields, the farm-houses, and the churches of Setauket 
relieve the monotony of rolling woodland. On your right the 
line of broken cliffs which form the northern shore of the island 
stretches away to the east as far as the eye can follow. 
Behind you the locomotive bellows and vomits smoke and 
cinders as it glides along its iron trail in the foreground, 
while further on the level plain dotted with houses and clear- 
ings loses itself in the background. This picture is too full of 
beauty to admit of anything like a just description with pen 
and ink. To be appreciated it must be seen, and is well 
worth turning aside for. It cannot fail to excite the admira- 
tion and delight of the beholder. 

Mount Misery is the name given to that peninsula which 
lies between the harbors of Port Jefferson and Mt. Sinai. 
The surface is elevated and considerably broken. Much of 
the soil is good, and the timber abundant and thrifty. The 
greater part of this peninsula is owned by the heirs of Thomas 
S. Strong, Esq. , ancestor of the late Hon. Selah B. Strong of 
Setauket. Much of the land is covered with timber. Oak- 
wood is the local name of the estate. 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 251 

Mount Sinai, formerly called Old Man's, is a scattered 
settlement near the head of a harbor bearing the same name, 
about three miles east of Port Jefferson. It contains three 
small stores, a windmill, two churches, a handsome district 
school building, erected two years since, and a population 
of 280. Bocks are abundant in the neighborhood, and the 
surface is extremely ragged and broken. Its present name 
is a very appropriate one. A person might with some show 
of reason suppose that the mighty convulsions which troubled' 
the ancient Mount when Moses received the Commandments 
from the hand of the great Lawgiver, had at some time in the 
past visited this its modern namesake, in a similar manner. 
The former name, "Old Man's,'' is said to have originated in 
the circumstance that many years ago, in the early stage of 
the settlement, a small house was fitted up and kept by an 
old man for the accommodation of travelers who happened 
to be delayed in the vicinity by night or storm or fatigue. 
The guests of the little inn when asked where they stopped 
would reply ; "With the old man;" a^d from thae, tradition 
says, came the name of the locality. Its Indian name was 
Nonowantuck. 

The harbor is shoal, and is frequented only by vessels of 
the smaller class. An artificial channel extends across it from 
the entrance. Ship building has been carried on here in a 
small way. Large tracts of meadow adjoining, and numer- 
ous small islands in the harbor are covered with salt grass. 
Immense quantities of clams are dug from the extensive flats 
of this harbor, and taken by the cargo, to markets alang the 
Connecticut shore besides supplying the wants of the neigh- 
boring and interior villages of this town. Scallops, fish, and 



252 TOWN OF BBOOKHAVEN. 

eels are also among the products of the harbor. From the 
great quantities of shells found upon its banks it is supposed 
that the neighborhood was once thickly populated by the 
Indians. 

The first church in this neighborhood was erected about 
the year 1720. It appears to have been occupied for sev- 
eral years as a branch or mission station connected with the 
original church at Setauket. A distinct organization, under 
the care of the Suffolk Presbytery was formed here Sept. 3, 
1760, under the pastoral administration of the Rev. Ezra 
Reeve, who had been ordained and stationed over this con- 
gregation Oct. 10, 1759. The continuance of this minister 
extended to Oct. 25, 1763, after which the organization here 
lost its original form, and Dec. 23, 1789 the "first Congrega- 
tional church of Brookhaven" was organized in its place. In 
1805 the old church was pulled down and a new and larger 
one erected on the' same site, which is still standing. This 
is situated in the eastern part of the settlement, upon a pleas- 
ant elevation overlooking the harbor and sound. An ancient 
grave-yard lies near it. 

A small Methodist church, erected in 1843, stands near the 
central part of the village, on the road leading to the harbor. 

Miller's Place, a compact settlement of thirty-five houses, 
is located on the sound shore about two miles east of Mount 
Sinai. It enjoys a delightful location upon a level plain, 
elevated fifty feet or more above the level of tide water, and 
is withal one of the most beautiful villages along the north 
side. Its residences, farm-houses, and cottages have a uni- 
form appearance of neatness and unostentatious beauty. The 
settlement was commenced in 1671 by Andrew Miller, son 



TOWN OF BBOOKHAVEN. 253 

of John Miller, one of the pioneers of Easthampton. It has a 
small store and post-office. An academy was erected in 
1834 which has enjoyed an average degree of prosperity. In 
church relations, as well as other matters, the people of this 
village are intimately connected with those of Mount Sinai. 
A "landing" on the sound near this place facilitates the trans- 
portation of cordwood to distant markets. 

Rocky Point is a thinly populated region lying along the 
north side, from two to four miles further east. It has a 
small store, *a district school, and about twenty dwelling 
houses. A post-office has recently been established. Large 
quantities of cordwood are shipped from a "landing" on the 
sound shore at this point, and manure and other freights 
returned. The surface in the immediate vicinity of the sound 
is considerably brok n, but further inland it becomes level 
and elevated, affording favorable sites for convenient farms. 
A Congregational lecture room stands in the central part of 
the neighborhood, on the road to the "landing." 

Woodville, sometimes called Swezey's Landing, is a more 
compact hamlet on the sound shore, two miles further east, 
and about the same distance from the eastern line of the 
town. It has long been an important depot for the expor- 
tation of cordwood. 

It may be proper to insert here the explanation that the 
landings which occur so frequently along the sound shore 
of this town, as well as on the shores of some of the bays in 
other parts of the island, are simply convenient places where 
the smaller class of sloops and schooners, by which the wood 
freighting is chiefly carried on, may run ashore at high water 
or to use the common expression, "lay on," so as to receive 



254 TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEN. 

or deliver their cargo by the aid of wagons driven plongside 
as soon as the tide falls sufficiently to admit of it. 

A small part of the village of Wading River lies in th6 
extreme northeast corner of this town. Settlement is sup- 
posed to have commenced in this neighborhood at a very 
early period, as it was voted at a town-meeting held Nov. 
17th, 1671, "that there shall be a village at the Wading 
River, or thereabouts, of eight families, or eight men, to 
have accommodation as the place will afford." As the 
principal part of the village lies within the "township of 
Riverhead it will be noticed in that connection. 

Striking inland from this point and following the town 
line southward across the great wooded plain, we pass a 
succession of swamps and ponds the largest of which are 
Long Pond, Sandy Pond, and Grass Pond, the last one 
lying near'the angle formed by the eastward projection of 
the south half of this town, about five miles inland from the 
sound. The Peconic River has its source in this neighbor- 
hood, and running eastward forms the dividing line between 
this town and Riverhead, on the north of the projection just 
spoken of, which extends a distance of about five miles 
beyond the north half of the town. 

Manorville, so named from having once been included in 
Col. Smith's patent of "St. George's Manor," occupies a 
considerable part of this extension, and lies centrally upon 
the Long Island Railroad, sixty-five miles from New York, 
and at the junction of the Sag Harbor Branch with the 
main line. The inhabitants, numbering nearly five hundred, 
are scattered over a tract of country three or four miles 
square. The vicinity abounds with swamps and small streams 



TOWN OF BEOOKHAVEN. 255 

from which circumstance it is sometimes called Brookfield. 
Singular as it may appear in reference to this fact, the face of 
the country is nearly fifty feet above the level of tide-water, and 
the soil generally inclined to be sandy. There is however a 
considerable proportion of good farming land in the neighbor- 
hood. A great portion of the region is still covered with 
forest growth, and the cutting and hauling of cordwood 
constitutes an important industry of the people. The light, 
free soil of this locality is peculiarly favorable to the growth 
of small fruits and garden vegetables, to which branches some 
attention is paid. Peaches, strawberries and blackberries are 
cultivated with success. 

The principal center of the place is in the neighborhood of 
the railroad depot, and from this, diverging roads lead in 
different directions to the scattering vicinages which lie 
round about. This central point contains a hotel, three 
stores, a church, the railway depot buildings, and a few 
shops. The manufacture of brick was commenced here a few 
years ago, but has been abandoned. The church, belonging 
to the Methodist Protestant denomination, was built at 
Moriches in 1840, and moved hither in 1868. A Presby- 
terian church standing nearly two miles southwest from this 
point, was built in 1839. This was the first house of worship 
established in the locality, and for several years before its 
erection public worship had been conducted by Mr. Jonathan 
Eobinson, (through whose efforts the church was organized) 
in his own house. 

Wampmissic is the Indian name of an extensive swamp 
lying near the railroad, about three miles west of Manor 
Station. 



256 TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEtf. 

Yaphank, formerly called Millville, is a village of three 
hundred inhabitants on the Long Island Railroad, four miles 
further west, and near the intersection of the Connecticut 
River. The County Alms House occupies a pleasant site 
near the railroad depot. The principal part of the village 
lies along the left bank of the river, extending northwest 
about two miles. It contains three churches, two grist-mills, 
a lumber yard, two stores and a number of mechanic shops. 
The district school-house, a neat octagon, with an observatory 
on top, stands on an open lot in the center of the village. 
The mills are located on the stream, about a mile apart, and 
have been established near a hundred years, the lower ons 
longer. A woolen factory stands upon the lower dam, but 
for many years it has not been in operation. More than half 
a century ago an unsuccessful attempt was made to establish 
a saw-mill at a point called Oosunk, about half a mile below. 
An ancient "fulling mill," an accessory of the "homespun'* 
age, once stood on the same stream at a point where it passes 
through a range of hills which extends across the northern 
outskirts of the village. Nothing appertaining to the mill 
is left but a part of the broken dam. 

The principal street of the village lies along the river-side 
between the two mills. The people are mostly farmers and 
mechanics. The name -Yaphank, sometimes spelled Yamp- 
hanke, is of Indian extraction, and was by the natives applied 
to a small tributary which flows into the Connecticut Eiver 
some four miles below here. 

St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal church, a neat little 
building in the southeastern part, was erected in 1853. A 
Baptist church, located near the schpol, was built in 1854 ; 



TOWN OF BEOOKHAVEN. 257 

dedicated July 4th of that year. It has recently been dis- 
posed of, and the society disorganized. A Presbyterian 
church stands a little further up, on the same street. It was 
built as a chapel belonging to the parish of Middletown, in 
1852, in which connection it remained until Oct. 18, 1871, 
when a separate church was organized here. 

The Suffolk County Alms House stands within sight of the 
railroad depot, a short distance northwest. It is located on a 
farm of one hundred and seventy acres, about seventy of 
which is cleared and under a good system of cultivation. 
The land is level, and of excellent quality. This farm was 
purchased in 1870, for $12,700. It lies in a square body, and 
the cleared portions are fenced in a good, substantial manner. 
A small farm-house and large barns, which were on the 
premises when they were purchased by the county, still 
remain in use. The Alms House is a handsome aud commo- 
dious structure, standing near the centre of the cleared fields. 
It consists of a main building, three stories high, 35x90 feet, 
with a wing 40x80 feet and two stories high on each side, 
making a total length, on the southern front, of one hundred 
and ninety-five feet. A basement extends under the whole 
building. The first floor is divided into nineteen large 
rooms, the second floor into twenty-seven rooms, and 
the third floor of the center building into four rooms. 
An observatory, from which an extended prospect of the 
environs may be gained, is reached by a flight of steps from 
the garret of this. The open garrets contain three large 
water-tanks, from which the house is supplied. These tanks 
are made of sheet-iron, each having a capacity of about three 
thousand gallons. Water may be led into them from the 



253 TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 

roof of the building, or pumped up from a driven well in 
the basement. From the main entrance to the building, 
a vestibule extends back to a hall- way which runs east and 
west through the middle of the house, and from this hall- way 
doors open into all the rooms on the main floor. The main 
stairway in the vestibule, and two other nights from the long 
passage, lead to a similar hall-way on the second floor, run- 
ning- east and vest through the middle of the house and 
communicating with the rooms on that floor. Another flight 
of stairs from the rear, leads to a north and south passage 
which opens to the north from the long passage, in the center 
building, and communicates with a number of rooms 
intended for the confinement of that class of lunatics who are 
not fierce enough to require the more solid walls of the base- 
ment cells. These long passages are divided by partitions 
across them, so that the inmates in one end of the house may 
be separated from those in the other end. The eastern half 
is occupied by the females, and the western half by the males, 
each having separate stairways and exit doors ; leading to 
their respective yards in the rear. The front part of the 
center building, both on the first and second floors, is 
occupied by the Superintendents' rooms and the Overseer's 
private apartments. The rear of the center building contains 
the kitchen and laundry, while the dining rooms occupy the 
rear of the wings. A steam cooking apparatus in the kitchen 
has a cax^acity sufficient to cook for two hundred and fifty 
persons. The basement contains the engine room, coal room, 
clothes drying room, three storage rooms, workshop, and 
Beven cells for the confinement of rabid or dangerous lunatics. 
The whold house is warmed by steam, pipes connecting with 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 259 

the boilers in the west end of the basement running through 
every room and returning. A five-horse-power engine feeds 
Che boilers, and pumps water from a driven well for u:-;e in 
the kitchen and laundry, or to supr^ly the tanks in the garrets. 
Coils of hose are kept in the halls always ready to be con- 
nected with the tanks, to be used in ease of fire in any part 
of the building. The clothes drying room is heated to in- 
tensity, by a series of steam pipes, sufficient to dry a change 
of wet clothes in fifteen minutes. The cost of the entire 
heating apparatus was eleven thousand dollars. The neces- 
sary managers of the house, whose time is employed in keep- 
ing all the departments in order, are the overseer, assistant 
overseer, matron, assistant matron, and engineer. The 
physician of the house is employed by the year, and is 
required to make frequent calls. He has a prescription 
room, stored with drugs and medicines, on the second floor. 
The washing, ironing, cleaning, and other work of the house 
is done by the inmates. Arrangements have also been made 
to give employment to those who happen to have trades, and 
are able- to work a part of the time. In the work- shop in the 
basement a few are employed at times at basket making and 
coopering, and some very nice specimens of tubs, pails and 
baskets are manufactured. Odd jobs of carpenter work about 
the house are done by the same means, and thus a considera- 
ble expense to the county is saved. Those of the men who 
are able to stand it are kept part of the time at work out of 
doors, and in this way the farm is run on an economical basis. 
In fact, the whole management of the house and farm is 
conducted with a view to economy, at the same time pre- 
serving in the largest possible degree the health and comfort 



260 TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 

of the inmates. The house is large enough to afford room for 
five hundred subjects, though the apartments now are too 
large to admit of accommodating that number in a suitable 
manner. The average number of inmates thus far ranges 
about one hundred, and the cost of materials to feed and 
clothe them will average about ninety-five cents a week for 
each one. An inspection of the store-rooms connected with 
the kitchen will satisfy any one that the fare is equal, if not 
superior, in quality to that obtained by the average of Ameri- 
cans. A Charities Aid Society, composed of benevolent indi- 
viduals from different parts of the county, has recently been 
organized in connection with this institution, for the purpose 
of visiting it and keeping an oversight upon its management 
and assisting in caring for and ministering to the wants of its 
inmates. Among other things, it is the object of this auxil- 
ary organization to secure occasional religious services in the 
house, to be conducted by volunteers from neighboring 
churches as often as their other duties will allow them to attend. 
A large room on the third floor of the main building is appro- 
priated to that use. The grounds about the building have 
been tastefully laid out, and planted with ornamental and 
ruit trees. The whole cost of the establishment, including 
the farm and all the improvements, was about seventy thou- 
and dollars. The house was erected in 1871, and the poor 
from some of the towns were moved into it during the latter 
part of that year. The building committee, appointed by 
the board of Supervisors to superintend its construction, 
were Win. E. Post, of Southampton ; L. B. Smith, of Smith- 
town ; and F. H. Overton, of Southold. The architect was 
Charles Hallett, of Kiverhead ; and the builders were the 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 261 

Randall Bros., of Green Point. The present Overseer is 
John Lowden, of Amityville, and the Superintendents of the 
County Poor, who have general charge of the institution, 
Stephen R. Williams, of Amityville ; Edward L. Gerard, of 
Yaphank ; and E. Hampton Mulford of Orient. 

Stages connect at Yaphank Station, for Moriches seven miles 
southeast, and Middle Island, five miles northwest. 

Bellport Station on the railroad, two and a half miles west 
of here, is a hamlet of about half a dozen houses, in the 
midst of a level plain, which as yet is covered with forest and 
scrub-growth. It was formerly an important point of rail- 
road communication for the village of Bellport four miles 
south. 

Medford on the same line, two and a half miles further 
west, is a railroad station in the middle of the woods. Stage 
lines from Patchogue on the south, and Coram, Selden, Port 
Jefferson, Mt. Sinai and Milleis Place on the north, connect 
here. * 

Middle Island, located as its name implies, near the geo- 
graphical centre of the island, is a thinly settled farming 
district, covering an area of three miles square or more, and 
containing a population of about three hundred. It lies on 
the middle Country Road in the center of this town, and has 
two churches, two district schools and two stores. The face 
of the country in this vicinity is undulating, and the soil for 
the most part rather light. Extensive beds of clay lie under- 
neath, and some of these were formerly worked in a small 
way for brick making purposes. A range of hills extending 
through the town from east to west forms the southern 
border. The Connecticut River rises near the Country Road, 



262 TOWN OF BEOOKHAVEN. 

and flowing an average course a little east of south, empties 
into the Great South Bay nine miles distant. A number of 
ponds, surrounded by low hills, and having no connection or 
outlets, lie about the vicinity. To the largest one of these, 
once called Glover's Pond, the name Artist Lake has lately 
been given. This beautiful sheet of water lies beside the 
Country Road in the eastern part, and within a few years 
past considerable improvements have been made upon the 
adjoining property by parties from the city. The name 
Artist Lake, was suggested by the circumstance that some of 
the new settlers followed the profession of picture painting. 
A few houses scattered about the shores of two smaller ponds, 
lying near each other, in the northwest part, are included in 
the hamlet of Swezeytown. 

The first Presbyterian church was built, on the Country 
Road, in 1766. It stood until a new one was built on the same 
site in 1837. This remains at the present time. The name 
Middletown is frequently used with reference to the parish of 
this church. A public burying-ground was established on 
the opposite side of the road about the time the first church 
was built. Union Cemetery, containing five acres, adjoins 
this on the south and west. It was opened for burial in 1867, 
and as yet but little improvement has been made upon it. 

A Methodist Episcopal church was erected in 1841, about a 
quarter of a mile west of this. It was removed to Coram in 
1858. Another church of the same denomination was built 
in the southeast part of the vicinity, two miles distant, in 1860. 

Ridgeville is a scattered settlement of a dozen houses, about 
three miles east of Middle Island, in the midst of an exten- 
sive tract of woodland. A handsome school-house, com- 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 263 

pleted in December last, [1872J is also used as a house for 
public worship, and is occupied as a mission station of the 
parish of Middletown. Longwood, the residence of Hon. 
Wm. Sidney Smith, and once a part of Col. Smith's 
patent of 1693, lies just south of here. 

Coram, the most ancient settlement in the interior of this 
town, lies along the Country Road two miles west of Middle 
Island. It contains a population of about two hundred, and 
has a church, a school and a store. The soil generally is 
light, and though it may appear to the superficial observer 
as scarcely more than worthless sand, much of it is peculiarly 
adapted to the growth of specialties such as locust timber, 
small fruits and melons, for the production of which this 
region has long been noted. Extensive swamps lie in the 
vicinity, and immense beds of clay are found but a few feet 
below the surface, some of which have been explored to the 
depth of forty feet without striking through them. Coram 
Pond is a small body of water lying in the bottom of a deep 
basin, and receiving a little rivulet which drains an elevated 
swamp a quarter of a mile away. The name of this place, 
sometimes spelled Corwm is said to have been given in honor 
of one of the native Indian chiefs in whose jurisdiction the 
territory lay. 

The town poor-house was established here in 1817, upon a 
small farm which was purchased at a cost of $900, and con- 
tinued in that use until the annual town meeting of 1872, 
when, the inmates having been removed to the new county 
poor-house, it was sold. Previous to the occupancy of the 
town poor house, it was customary for the Overseers to let 
out the keeping of the poor dependents upon town charity, 



264 TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 

to whoever would agree to keep them from starving at the 
lowest price . 

For more than three quarters of a century the public 
meetings of the town have been held in this place. During 
the revolution a number of exciting events took place here. 
Petty skirmishes and robberies were of frequent occurence. 
At one time a magazine of about 300 tons of hay, which had 
been collected by the British troops, was burned by a party 
of "rebels." 

A Baptist church was erected here in 1747. This was the 
first, and for several years the only church of that denomi- 
nation in the county. The organization does not appear to 
have been well sustained. The building was sold in 1847, 
and moved to Port Jefferson, where its materials were used 
in the construction of a tenement house. A Methodist Epis- 
copal church, originallv built at Middle Island, was taken 
down and moved hither in 1858. It occupies the same site 
on which the old Baptist meeting-house stood. An ancient, 
burying ground is situated near it. 

Coram Hills is a hamlet of sixteen houses and a district 
school, located in the "hill country" two miles southeast of 
here, on the road to Yaphank. 

Following the country road west from Coram, we pass over 
one of the "everlasting" hills, and enter Selden, formerly 
called Westfield. Its present name was given in honor of a 
gentleman of the legal profession who proposed to do some- 
thing "handsome" for the place but never did it. The vil- 
lage occupies two miles on the country road, and contains a 
district school, a church, and 150 inhabitants. The people 
are engaged to considerable extent in the cultivation of small 



townVf brookhaven. 265 

fruits, melons, vegetables and garden seeds, and the propa- 
gation of sweet potato and other garden plants. The church 
spoken of was built in 1857, and has been occupied most of the 
time as a Presbyterian chapel. A society of that denomination 
was organized in connection with it, Aug. 11, 1868. 

New Village, sometimes called West Middle Island, is a 
farming district extending along the country road from Sel- 
den to the western border of the town, a distance of about 
four miles. It includes a population of two hundred and 
fifty, and has a district school and a church. The latter was 
built in 1812, and was originally intended as a union 
meeting-house. It has been occupied principally by a Con- 
gregational society, which was organized in 1815. It stands 
in a grave-yard beside the country road. 

At the time the Long Island Eailroad was in process of con- 
struction a route was surveyed running through this section 
a short distance below the country road, and this being con- 
sidered the most convenient one, ground was broken upon 
it here, and a smart piece of the road graded, before the route 
was changed to the present site, three miles further south. 
A huge embankment thus formed may still be seen in this 
vicinity. 

Lake Grove, formerly Konkonkoma or Lakeville, is a pleas- 
ant settlement of two hundred and fifty inhabitants, two 
miles southwest of the place last noticed, and near the angle 
of the town line formed by the advance of Islip upon the 
southern part. It has a large district school, and three 
churches. Several gentlemen doing business in the city have 
made this locality their country residence. Brick-making is 
carried on to some extent. 



266 TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEN. 

Lake Ronkonkonia, in this neighborhood, on the line of 
Brookhaven, Islip and Smithtown, is one of the largest and 
most beautiful sheets of fresh water on the island. The lake 
is about three miles in circumference, and lies some twenty 
feet below the average surface of the neighboring land. It 
is surrounded by a beach of white sand from which peculiarity 
it is said the Indian name it bears was derived. The water is 
remarkably clear, of great depth, and abounds with fish of 
different varieties. In the olden time the neighborhood of 
this lake was a favorite resort for the huntsman, frequented as it 
w T as by great numbers of deer. It is now a popular retreat for 
pleasure-seekers and pic-nic parties from the neighboring 
villages. Thousands annually visit its shores, for recreation 
and to enjoy the delights of its scenery. Its banks are 
shaded by a belt of sturdy oaks, which grew "from little 
acorns" many long years ago. Several fine groves in the 
vicinity are used for camp-meetings, mass-meetings, celebra- 
tions and other public gatherings of a religious, political or 
social character. 

St. Mary's Episcopal church, a small but handsome Gothic 
structure, built in 1867, stands on the northeast shore of the 
lake. A Methodist Episcopal church was erected in 1852. 
It stands at the cross-roads near the school, about half a mile 
northeast of the other, and near the village burying-ground. 
It was enlarged and rebuilt in 1868. 

A short distance up the New Village road stands a Baptist 
church, erected in 1869. 

Lakeland Station, on the Long Island Railroad lies about 
one mile south of here, within the town of Islip. 



TOWN OF BEOOKHAVEN. 2G7 

Portion Road leads from the lake eastward through a thinly 
scattered settlement of about 25 houses, called Farmingville or 
Bald Hills, covering a distance of four miles, and lying between 
this village and Coram Hills. A neat and commodious dis- 
trict school is located near the center of the neighborhood. 
The western part of the sec^on is sometimes called Mooney 
Pond. 

Waverly Station on the L. I. Railroad, near the northeast 
angle of Islip town, is a compact hamlet of about fifteen 
houses, containing a school, a store, and Holtsville Post-office. 
It is located in the midst of a fine level clearing, which if 
improved would make a beautiful site for a large village. A 
neatly kept burying ground lies a short distance west of the 
habitations. Gardening and grape culture have been com- 
menced here. 

Blue Point lies in the extreme southwest corner of the 
town, upon a point of land called by the Indians Manowtas- 
quott. Namkee Creek an insignificant little drain of water 
running through a bog marsh, forms the western boundary 
of this village, as well as of the town. The people are mostly 
farmers and bay-men. The richest oyster grounds in the 
Great South Bay lie near this place, and the name "Blue 
Point oysters " suggests a very popular idea of excellence. 
The village contains two churches, two stores, a Division of 
the Sons of Temperance, and a population of three hundred 
and twenty- one. A very neat district school house was built 
in 1871. Near this, on the west side of the principal "lane " 
stands the Baptist church. This was built as a Union or 
Congregational church, in 1865, and in the early part of 1870 
was transferred to the present denomination. A Methodist 



268 TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 

Episcopal cliurcli stands on the opposite side of the street. 
It was built in 1866. The South Side Railroad runs through 
the midst of this village, and has a depot at a central point. 

Edenvale, a settlement of five houses upon the scrubby 
plain, two miles north of here, was commenced about fifteen 
years ago. 

Patchogue, deriving its name from the Pochough tribe of 
Indians who once occupied the region, is the largest village 
on the south side of the town, and contains a population of 
about twenty-three hundred. It is situated on the Great 
South Bay, about two miles east of the town line, and at the 
present terminus of the South Side Railroad. The depot 
buildings of the Company, in the lower part of the village, 
are the largest and finest of the kind in the county. The 
south Country Road forme the principal street. The site is 
level, and most of the streets are quite wide and compara- 
tively straight. The village contains four churches, two 
hotels, two cotton factories, two grist-mills, twelve stores, 
and a number of shops and saloons. The fisheries of the bay 
afford the principal support of the place. Oysters, clams, 
and fish are taken in great quantities from the adjoining 
waters and sent to the New York market. It is estimated 
that the oyster business which is carried on from this village 
gives employment to about three hundred and fifty men, and 
it is probable that the annual proceeds of the business, 
together with the other fisheries, amount in the aggregate to 
more than a quarter of a million dollars. From six to eight 
hundred acres of the neighboring bottom are "planted " with 
oysters, by individuals who lease the ground of the town, for 
the propagation and growth of these bivalves. These artiii- 



TOWN OP BROOKHAVEN. 269 

cial oyster beds are supposed to yield an annual value of a 
hundred thousand dollars or more. Upon this industrial 
foundation principally, this village has grown within the 
present century from an inconsiderable hamlet to its present 
increasing size and importance. In addition to this, however, 
it has long been noted as a center of considerable manufac- 
turing interest. Two streams of water flow into the bay, 
one on the western border of the village and the other on the 
eastern. These are sufficient to furnish power for driving a 
large amount of machinery. Large flour and grist mills are 
located on each of them. On the west one, called Patehogue 
Creek, a paper mill is situated about one and a half miles 
back of the village, in the midst of a tributary settlement of 
a dozen houses, sometimes called Canaan. The " Union " 
Twine Mills are located on the same stream, at the villige. 
This manufacturing enterprise was first started here on a 
small scale by parties from Massachusetts, afterward con- 
ducted by Justice Roe, and about the year 1800 established 
on a large scale by George Fair of New York, who was suc- 
ceeded by John Roe, father of the present proprietor, John 
E. Roe* These were the third cotton mills established in the 
United States, and the first to manufacture carpet warp from 
cotton. The "Swan River" mills, located on the eastern 
stream are under the same proprietorship and management. 
This factory was destroyed by fire in 1854, but was soon after 
rebuilt. Both these mills are occupied in the manufacture of 
carpet warp and twine, using about 200,000 pounds of raw 
material annually. During the last seven years their capacity 
has been increased one hundred per cent. Each mill contains 



270 town of bkookhaven. 

eight hundred spindles, employs fifteen to seventeen hands, 
and uses about thirty-six horse-power of water. 

A short distance west of the village is a small stream called 
Little Patchogue, on which a woolen factory containing some 
five hundred spindles was formerly located. The stream is 
now unoccupied. Among the manufacturing enterprises 
which have been in operation here in the past were an iron- 
forge, several tanneries, and a machine-shop employed in 
the manufacture of envelope cutters. Ship-building is carried 
on along the shore, but is mostly confined to vessels of light 
draft, such as are used in the navigation of the bay. The 
shallowness of the water forbids launching vessels of large 
size. Owing to this unfavorable feature of the bay, there is 
no wharf here, and vessels are obliged to lie off in the channel 
and receive or discharge their cargoes by means of "lighters" 
which can run so near the shore that teams may be driven 
into the water alongside of them. 

Like most of its sister villages of the South Side, Patchogue 
enjoys a share of the patronage of summer boarders from the 
city. The Eagle Hotel, a house of liberal dimensions and 
attractive surroundings, is generally filled to overflowing with 
this class of visitors during the season. 

The old parish burying-ground lies in the western part of 
the village, near the Patchogue Creek mill-pond. It contains 
about two acres, well filled with graves. The most conspicu- 
ous monument is that erected to the memory of the late Oliver 
W. Eice, M. D., who died November 12th, 1869. The base 
of this monument is about five feet square, and the die is 
surmo anted by a heavy cross. It stands within an en" 
closure of iron fence, near the main street. 



TOWN OP BEOOKHAVEN. 271 

Near this resting place of the dead the first house of worship 
was erected in 1794. It belonged jointly to the four denomi- 
nations, Congregationalist, Methodist, Baptist, and Presby- 
terian, and each sect was allowed to occupy it their proportion 
of the time. About the year 1822 the building was replaced 
by another which still occupies the site, though for many 
years it has been abandoned as a hoi\se of worship and devot- 
ed to other purposes. In 1831 the Methodists withdrew from 
,tbe union and erected a small church of their own near by. 
The other two denominations having at that time become 
nearly or quite extinct, the joint building passed into the 
possession of the Congregationalists. In 1855 the church at 
present occupied by that denomination was built. This is a 
handsome building, of somewhat imposing dimensions, and 
stands on Pine Street, a little north of the centre of the vil- 
lage. The present Methodist church, a commodious building 
located near the railroad depot, was built in 1853. The 
former church built by that denomination was sold to the 
Roman Catholics, by whom it is now occupied. St. Paul's 
Episcopal church, standing on the Main Street near the vil- 
lage centre, was built in 1843. 

The public school building of this village is one of the 
largest and finest in the county. It is located on Ocean Ave- 
nue, a short distance below the village centre. The building 
is three stories high, and was erected in the spring of 1870 
at an expense of $10,700. The school is under first-class 
management, and numbers in attendance about four hundred 
and fifty scholars, and employs seven teachers. 

Brookhaven Lodge, No. 80, I. O. of O . F. , was organized 
here in 1847, and numbers at present one hundred and eight 



272 TOWN OP BROOKHAVEN. 

members. South Side Lodge, No. 493, F. & A. M., was 
instituted here in June, 1860. Feb. 22, 1862, the building 
in which its meetings were held was burned, and the Lodge 
sustained a loss of all their regalia, furniture, records &c. , by 
the fire. The lodge was re-organized in June 1862. The 
membership at present numbers about one hundred. Patch- 
ogue Division, Sons of Temperance, reports a membership of 
one hundred and seven. 

From the eastern part of Patchogue a continuous settlement 
called Union Street, or East Patchogue, extends along the 
main road to Bellport, a distance of about three miles. This 
section is occupied by farms and pleasant residences. The 
country is level and the road a delightful one to drive over. 

Bellport is a village of about four hundred and fifty inhabit- 
ants, neatly built, and pleasantly located on the shore of the 
Great South Bay. It occupies one of the most eligible sites 
for a beautiful and prosperous village on the whole south side 
of the island. The neck of land which it covers was called by 
the Indians Accombamack, sometimes spelled Occombomock. 
The water of the bay here is of sufficient depth to allow 
vessels of considerable size to come up to a wharf which pro- 
jects from the foot of the principal "lane." Lumber and 
coal yards and marine railways are located near the same spot. 
Ship-building has also been carried on here to some extent. 
The village was commenced about forty years ago, and it 
rapid growth for a few years gave flattering promises of future 
prosperity. Among the most prominent leaders in buildiug 
it up were Messrs. Thomas and John Bell, from whom it de- 
rived its name. A number of fine country residences, beau- 
tifully situated amid luxurious surroundings are located along 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 273 

the main road, and dwellings of less pretensions are pleas- 
antly sited in full view of the canvas spangled bay and the 
distant line of beach hills. There are three stores in the 
village. An academy was established here soon after the 
village began its growth, and for a time that building was 
used also as a place of worship. As an educational institution 
it has during a part of the time filled a good measure of suc- 
cess, but for several years past it has only been occupied by 
the district school of the village. A Presbyterian church, of 
handsome proportions and design, was erected here in 1850. 
It stands on the main street, and contains a fine pipe organ. 
Bellport Division, Sons of Temperance, was instituted during 
the infancy of the order, and has preserved its existence with 
fluctuating prosperity about thirty years. It now reports 
ninety-eight members. This is one of the oldest and most 
successful temperance organizations in Suffolk County, and 
the happy influence which it has wielded among the people 
has been marked by good fruits. It is deserving of favorable 
notice on account of the fact that during an early period of 
its existence sufficient interest in its wellfare was inspired to 
build a Temperance Hall for its accommodation, thereby 
insuring to the institution a more substantial and permanent 
foundation. This building, a neat, plain edifice, two stories 
in height and of comfortable dimensions, is still owned and 
occupied by the Division. The lower room was formerly 
occupied as a place of worship by a Congregational society, 
but that society having diminished in strength and numbers, a 
Methodist Episcopal church was formed here in 1870, and 
that denomination has since then occupied the same room c 
It is now taking measures to build a church of its own. 



274: TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 

Brookhaven Temple of Honor was instituted at Bellporfc, 
Oct. 6, 1886, and also meets in the Temperance Hall. This 
organization numbers thirty members. 

A small settlement of colored people lies a short distance 
back of this village, and a neat little African church is cred- 
itably sustained among them. 

Adjoining Bellport on the east lies the village of Brookka- 
ven, until recently called Fire Place. It contains two church- 
es, two district schools, two stores and a population of about 
four hundred. Immense tracts of salt meadows skirt the 
shore of the bay at this point. A great part of this meadow- 
land is owned by farmers of the interior, many of whom come 
from eight to sixteen miles to gather the hay product and 
haul it home. The people of this village are mostly farm- 
ers and fishermen.* Gunning for wild-fowl in the neighbor- 
hood is followed as a source of profit by some and as pastime 
by others. Trout-ponds have been established on a small 
stream called Beaver Dam River which runs through the 
midst of the settlement. The eastern part, sometimes called 
the "Neck," borders on Connecticut River, and a dock has 
been constructed here, at a point which bears the Indian 
name Squassucks. A small Methodist Episcopal church was 
built in this village in 1818, and in 1872 it was moved to an- 
other site and enlarged. It now presents a handsome apj>ear- 
ance. A small lecture-room fitted up about forty years ago 

*A casualty, long to be remembered on account of its fatal results, and 
worthy of a place in history, occurred on the ocean shore opposite here, on the 
night of September 5th, 1813. A party of eleven men went from this place 
across to the beach to draw a seine for fish, and by some terrible mishap they 
were aJl thrown into the sea and drowned. These men were William Rose, 
Isaac Woodruff, Lewis Parshall, Benjamin Brown, Nehemiah Hand, James 
Homan, Charles Ellis on, James Prior, Daniel Pai'shalL Henry Homan, and John 
Huisc. 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 275 

by a Congregational society is occasionally opened for relig- 
ious service. An Episcopal church has been built here dur- 
ing the present season. A line of mail and express stages 
connects this village and Bellport with the South Side Kail- 
road at Patchogue. 

Adjoining Brookhaven on the northeast, and centrally dis- 
tant about two miles from it, lies the hamlet of South Haven, 
on the west side of Connecticut River about three miles from 
its mouth. This settlement contains about twenty houses, a 
post-office, store, school, church, saw and grist mill, and a 
moulding and planing mill. The Suffolk Club House is a 
magnificent building, pleasantly situated on the west bank of 
the river, and surrounded by extensive pleasure grounds bor- 
dering on the mill-pond. The first Presbyterian church was 
erected here about the year 1765. The present one, standing 
near the bank of the river, was built in 1828. About half way 
from here down to the river's month a small tributary to 
which the Indians gave the name Yamphanke flows into it 
from the west. 

The western boundary of Col. William Smith's purchase 
followed up this tributary, and thus included a tract of land 
on the west side of the Connecticut River. The principal 
part of South Haven is located on that tract. The "Parish 
of Southaven, " as it was formerly called, does not appear to 
have been included in the town of Brookhaven until about 
the time of the revolution. 

Mastic is a large peninsula situated between Connecticut 
River on the west and Forge River or Mastic River on the 
east, and containing about fifteen square miles of territory. 
It projects so f,;r into the bay that only a narrow strait 



276 TOWN OF BEOOKHAVEN. 

varying in width from one quarter to three quarters of a mile 
remains between it and the Great South Beach. It separates 
the Great South Bay on the west from the East Bay on the 
east. Patterquos Creek empties into the strait from about 
middle way of the southern shore. Smith's Point is the 
southwestern extremity, and Floyd's Point the southeastern. 
The shore is extremely ragged, and many of its " necks " and 
localities retain their aboriginal names. Among these are 
Poosepatuck, Sebonock, Necornmack, Coosputus, Patterquos, 
Unchahoug and Mattemoy. This peninsula is the southern 
part of that tract of land, extending back to the middle of the 
island, which was purchased of the Indians by Col. Wm, 
Smith in 1691, and afterwards incorporated by patent from 
the Colonial Governor, under the title of St. George's Manor. 
A considerable part of the real estate has ever since been 
held by descendants of the original patentee. The soil is 
good, and the territory is divided into a few large farms, 
upon which stock-raising is carried on to considerable extent. 
The larger part is still covered with forest growth. Some of 
the most illustrious and prominent men of our County or 
State have had their homes here, among whom we may men- 
tion Gens. Nathaniel Woodhull and William Floyd, who were 
among the foremost of the revolutionary heroes. During the 
revolution the British erected a fortification, called Ft. St. 
George, on the west side of the peninsula, (near the present 
residence of Hon. E. T. Smith) which was captured and 
destroyed by a detachment of Continental troops under Maj. 
Benjamin Tallmadge, Nov. 23, 1780. This peninsula abounds 
in pleasant groves of lusty oaks, and its retirement and 
romantic beauties are frequently sought by pleasure parties 



TOWN OF BJROOKHAVEN. 277 

and excursionists, while poets are inspired to sing in glowing 
strains of its enchanting loveliness. On the west side of 
Forge Biver, about two miles above its mouth, is the home 
of the so-called Poosepatuck Indians, whose aboriginal 
ancestry was once a family of the Pochough tribe. The 
settlement contains nearly a dozen houses, and a small 
church. This secluded spot is noted for being the place of 
holding a religious aniversary of the colored people, which is 
regularly celebrated on the second Sunday in June, and 
from this fact denominated the "June meeting." The 
design of this custom, which has been observed for several 
generations, was to bring together in a social and religious 
re-union the remnants of the different Indian tribes of the 
island, but that design has been sadly perverted by the in- 
trusion of the curious and the profane, through whose un- 
happy influence the meeting has been made an occasion for 
sport and drunken revelry. In justice to the colored partici- 
pants, and to the disgrace of the white population, both of 
whom attend these annual gatherings from a distance of 
twenty to thirty miles around, it may be added that a large 
proportion of these interlopers belong to the latter class. 

Moriches is the general name, derived from the Indians 
who once occupied the territory, now applied to a continuous 
settlement extending along the Country Koad, from the head 
of Forge River to within two miles of the east line of the 
town, a distance of about five miles. It is divided into three 
villages, West, Centre, and East, Moriches, each of which has 
a post-office. Farming and fishing are the principal occupa- 
tions of the people. The soil is good and the surface level. 



278 TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 

The shore is divided into a number of necks, by several creeks 
that put into it, and streams which run down through it. 

West Moriches, [Moriches P. O.J containing a store, grist- 
mill, saw-mill and paper-mill, and thirty-five houses, is loca- 
ted at the head of Forge Eiver about three miles from the 
bay. The river is navigable for small vessels nearly up to 
this point. An iron forge was established here by Col. Floyd 
in the early part of the present century, but it did not long 
continue in operation. 

Centre Moriches, a village of six hundred inhabitants, is 
beautifully situated near the East Bay. It contains two 
churches, four stores, two hotels, and a number of tradesmen. 
A grist-mill is located on Terrell's Eiver, which forms the 
line between this and East Moriches. The village enjoys 
considerable celebrity as a watering place, and is largely 
visited during the summer season. Two large boarding- 
houses are located near the shore, and a large number of 
private families accommodate boarders. A bathing station 
on the South Beach opposite here, affords excellent facilities 
for surf -bathing, and a number of sail-boats make connection 
with that point daily. The habitations of this village are 
beautifully situated along the Country Road and down the 
several " lanes " which lead to the bay, many of them in full 
view of the water. The first church of this village was built 
in 1809. Although the origin of the settlement must date 
back nearly two centuries, and a church organization had 
been sustained here for half a century, no house of worship 
appears to have been erected until that year, when a house for 
the use of all denominations was built. In 1839 the present 
Presbyterian church was erected by the Presbyterians and 



TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEN. 279 

Congregationalists, for the alternate use of each. It has 
since been enlarged, and occupies a pleasant site, near the 
centre of the village. A neat school-house recently built, 
stands near it. In the western part stands the Methodist 
Episcopal church, also built in 1839. A Methodist Protestant 
church was erected here in 1840. In 1868 it was moved to 
Manor Station, where it now stands. A neatly kept cemetery 
lies in the eastern part of the settlement, a short distance 
back from the main road. This occupies a part of a certain 
piece of land, containing about seven acres, which was 
given to the Presbyterian church and congregation for 
a Parsonage &c, by Capt. Josiah Smith, about the year 1845. 
The burying ground, covering one and a half acres, is called 
the Presbyterian Cemetery of Moriches, and was opened for 
burial about the year 1851. Stage lines connect this village 
with the Sag Harbor Branch R. R. at "Moriches Station" 
[Eastport] four miles east, or with the main line at Yaphank 
Station, seven miles northwest. 

East Moriches, the continuation of this village beyond 
Terrell's River, contains about four hundred inhabitants, a 
large district school, a lecture room, store, tannery, and a few 
tradesmen's shops. A number of handsome residences are 
pleasantly situated in full view of the bay. Some of these, 
and a number of cottages, are occupied as country seats by 
New Yorkers who spend the summer here. Fishing, boat- 
building and repairing are carried on to some extent. 

Eastport is a village of three hundred and fifty inhabitants, 
on the line between this town and Southampton. It com- 
prises two school-districts, one in each town. The people 
are principally fishermen, " sailors and small farmers. The 



280 TOWN OV BBOOKHAVEN. 

institutions of the place are a church, two grist-mills, two 
stores, a wintergreen oil distillery, blacksmith and wheel- 
wright shop. On the western border a little brook rises near 
the country road. This is called Little Seatuck, and a trout- 
pond has been laid out upon it. On or near the town line, in 
the centre of the village, a larger stream called by the Indian 
name Seatuck River supplies a saw and grist mill. In the 
summer of 1865 a sorgham mill was established, which has 
since been kept running during the season of each year, 
though the business has lost that vigor and enthusiasm with 
which it was commenced. A wintergreen oil distillery was es- 
tablished on this mill-dam, by Jeremiah Horton, in 1870, and 
it is still in operation. The grounds of the Se-a-tuck Club 
border the western shore of this mill-pond, and large pools 
have been constructed by them for the propagation of trout 
with which to stock the pond. The club house, first opened 
in 1872, is a noble specimen of architecture, and occupies 
an elevated site, overlooking the pond, and commanding a 
pleasant view of the bay and ocean. About half a mile east 
of the mill-stream just noticed is another, a smaller one, 
which furnishes power for driving a saw and grist mill. 
The section between these two mill-streams was once called 
Waterville. A Methodist Protestant church, built about the 
year 1845, stands in this part of the village. A depot on the 
Sag Harbor Branch Railroad, at the point of intersection with 
the country road, in the western part of this village, is called 
Moriches Station. This is five and a quarter miles southeast 
from Manor Station. A post-office by the name of Seatuck 
was established in this village in 1849, and discontinued in 
1857. The present village name was adopted by a meeting 



TOWN OF BKOOKHAVEN. 281 

of the inhabitants in I860, and a post-office by that name 
established about the commencement of the present year. 
The streams of this place, which we have just noticed, flow 
into a cove which indents the coast, from the East Bay. 
Moderate sized sloops and small schooners enter this cove 
and bring merchandise from New York. Considerable quan- 
tities of pine wood are taken from here. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



RTVERHEAD TOWN — HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. 



The town of Riverhead was formed from the western part 
of Southold, March 13, 1792. The name was derived from 
that of the principal village, being located at the head of 
boat navigation on the Peconic River. But few improve- 
ments were made here until after the neighboring towns had 
become well advanced. As a consequence the history of this 
town is comparatively modern, and in its character as a dis- 
tinct incorporation has no pre-revolutionary record. Its 
territory extends east and west about fifteen miles, with an 
average width of about five miles. The Long Island Sound 
washes the northern shore, Southold town joins it on the 
east, Peconic River and Bay separates it from Brookhaven 
and Southampton on the south, and Brookhaven bounds it 
on the west. The sound shore forms a line of high, precipi- 
tous bluffs, and in their vicinity the surface is broken into 
rugged hills. From these rough elevations the surface grad- 
ually descends to near the level of tide water on the south 
side of the town. The soil in the northern part is a rich 
heavy loam, and in the southern part comparatively light. 
Clay beds abound in the loamy regions. The western inland 
portions of the town are thinly settled, and but partially im- 
proved, while in the eastern part, and along the north side, 
most of the land is cleared and kept under a good state of 
cultivation. 



TOWN OF RIVEKHEAD. 283 

During the war of 1812, several vessels belonging to this 
town were captured by the British in the sound. May 31, 
1814, a smart skirmish took place on the sound shore. A 
British squadron lying six or seven miles off on the sound, 
sent two large barges shore-ward, to where two or more 
sloops lay on the beach ready to load with wood. About 
thirty militia, under Capt. John Wells, hearing of their 
movements, repaired to the spot, in readiness to receive them. 
The two barges contained about fifty men, who, as they 
approached the shore, opened fire from their cannon and 
musketry. As they were about to board the sloop " Nancy,'* 
the militia opened fire upon them, with such destructive 
effect that their attention was at once absorbed in the matter 
of saving their lives by immediate retreat. None of the 
militia were injured, but it was supposed that several of the 
enemy were killed or wounded. 

The principal part of the village of Wading Biver lies in the 
extreme northwest corner of this town. This ancient settle- 
ment occupies a convenient site among the hills in the neigh- 
borhood of a creek which the Indians called Pawquacumsuck. 
This creek forms the dividing line between this town and 
Brookhaven, and receives a small stream which furnishes 
power for driving a grist-mill. This village contains a popu- 
lation ol about two hundred and fifty. Two district schools 
are located within the limits of the neighborhood. The 
creek is navigable for small boats. Considerable quantities 
of cordwood are exported from a landing on the sound shore. 
A Congregational church, of respectable dimensions and ap- 
pearance, stands near the centre of the village. It was built 
in 1837, to replace a smaller one which had been standing 



284 TOWN OF KIVEEHEAD. 

near a hundred years, and which, tradition says was originally 
occupied by a church of the Presbyterian order. The people 
of this village are engaged mostly in farming, and apparently 
belong to the well-to-do class. A stage line connects with 
the railroad at Manor Station. 

About three miles east of Wading River a settlement of 
farm-houses begins, and extends without any remarkable 
interruption, in a continuous line to the eastern limit of the 
town, and beyond. This settlement lines the North Country 
Road a distance of about twelve miles, the habitations being 
located at convenient intervals, and a large proportion of 
them on the north side of the highway. This road follows a 
course parallel with the sound shore and about one mile 
from it, passing through a section occupied almost entirely 
by rich, highly cultivated and productive farms. This line 
of settlement? embraces Baiting Hollow, Roanoke and North- 
ville. The inhabitants are almost exclusively farmers, and 
the appearance of fruitful fields, and large, well filled barns, 
graneries and stock-yards, which are common all through this 
section, speaks in evidence of the success with which agricul- 
ture is carried on. 

Baiting Hollow, the western part of this settlement, occu- 
pies four miles of the road, and includes about sixty dwell- 
ings. It embraces two school districts, and has two churches. 
Jericho Landing, on the shore near this place, is a point from 
which considerable quantities of cordwood have been shipped. 
Settlement here is supposed to have been commenced dur- 
ing the early part of the last century. Near the center of 
the eastern school district stands the two churches. The first 
Congregational church was built in 1803, a society of that 



TOWN OF RIVEKHEAD. 285 

denomination having been organized in 1792. About twenty 
years ago the old church was sold, and a new one built in its 
place. The New Jerusalem (Swedenborgian) church, stand- 
ing a short distance further east, was built in 1839, by a 
society which had been organized in 1831. 

Roanoke is a school district and farming vicinage contain- 
ing about thirty-five houses, lying between Baiting Hollow 
and Northville. A post-office was established here about two 
years since, but has been discontinued. 

North ville [Success P. O.] comprises two school districts, 
and occupies about four miles of the Country Road, run- 
ning to the town line on the east. It contains about four 
hundred inhabitants. The first house of worship in this vil- 
lage was moved here from its original site, on the Middle 
Country Road about two miles east of the village of River- 
head, in 1835. This belonged to the Congregational society, 
and was used by them until the erection of a new building. 
In 1859 the old church was converted into an academy, 
and for a number of years a first class school was maintained 
in it. The patrons of Northville Academy have been from 
all parts of the County, and some from other places in the 
State as well. This building stands on the north side of the 
main road, and directly opposite stands the present Congre- 
gational church, erected in 1859. This is a neatly finished 
building, of liberal proportions, and is supplied with most 
of the modern improvements. Near it lies the village ceme- 
tery, a well arranged and neatly kept burying-ground. This 
village is one of the most pleasant and attractive fural settle- 
ments on the island. The location is elevated and remarka- 
bly healthful, and while its retirement is sufficient to answer 



28G TOWN OF RIVEBHEAD. 

almost any demand — the wild hills which form a bulwark 
against the sound shore affording an ample field for the 
sweetest solitude— the more stirring scenes of life and busi- 
ness are within convenient reach, by a short hour's drive 
over a pleasant road to the county seat and centre of public 
activity and trade at Riveihead. 

This village is the head-quarters of the Eiverhead Town 
Agricultural Society, an energetic organization of farmers who 
have succeeded in a large measure in reducing the theory of 
co-operation to practice. This co-operation is effected with 
profitable results in the purchase of fertilizers, implements, 
seeds &c. Its purchasing agency has done a business 
amounting to $16,000 a year. 

During the war of 1812 an American cutter, closely pursued 
by a British man-of-war, was run ashore at this place, and a 
determined fight took place between the quickly gathered 
militia and the pursuing barges from the ship. The Ameri- 
cans maintained so hot a fire from behind the bank that the 
marines were several times repulsed, and although aided by a 
heavy cannonade from the ship were forced to retire. The 
ship sailed down to the British fleet at Orient, and was 
ordered back the next day to renew the fight, and then suc- 
ceeded in capturing the dismantled and sinking prize. 

In the southwestern part of this town lies a thinly settled 
region, containing perhaps twenty houses on a tract three 
miles square. This section is light and sandy, but at the 
same time abounds in marshes and ponds which, though 
most of them have no visible connection, are supposed to 
feed the head-waters of the Peconic River. This vicinage, 



TOWN OF MVEEHEAD. 287 

covering a school district, lies adjacent to and on the north 
of Manorville, and is consider%d as belonging to that place. 

Calverton is a railroad station and post-office, about five 
miles east of Manorville, rnd on the southern border of the 
town. • This is in the midst of an extensive wooded region, 
and the initial of the railroad station was a side track which 
was laid for the convenience of loading cars with cordwood. 
It was at first called Hulse's " Turnout," and afterward, when 
it became a " flag station " was named Baiting Hollow Station, 
from the fact of its being a convenient point of departure for 
that place, which lies about three miles directly north. The 
school district embraces within its limits about forty dwell- 
ings, the most of them being located on the Middle Country 
Road, which runs about a mile and a half north of the rail- 
road. A district school is located on that road, a store at the 
depot, and a grist-mill, known as the Conungum mills, on 
the Peconic Eiver, less than half a mile south of the depot. 
A bone mill is located on the river a mile and a half further 
down. 

Riverhead village, the county seat of Suffolk, and one of 
the most pleasant and flourishing villages in the county, lies 
at the head of navigation on Peconic River, a few miles east 
of the longitudinal centre of the town, and on its southern 
border. The soil in this neighborhood is light and sandy, 
but the village site is level and sufficiently elevated to be free 
from marshes. It is regularly laid out, on streets of conven- 
ient width, which have been improved and beautified by 
laying off neat sidewalks and planting shade trees. The 
larger proportion of its residences are of tasty design and 
finish, and many of them really elegant specimens of archi- 



288 TOWN OF EIVEEHEAD. 

tecture. The Middle Country Road forms the Main Street, 
and the other principal streets are Griffiing and Roanoke 
Avenues, running north from this and crossing the railroad, 
the former passing near the depot. The principal part of the 
village lies on the south of the railroad, between it and the 
river. The northern part is rapidly building up. Ten years 
ago there was not a dwelling to be seen on the north of the 
track. It was then occupied by cleared fields, and groves of 
native timber. Since that time roads have been laid 
out, and scores of handsome houses built, so that now we 
find this part of the village smiling with prosperity and im- 
provements. 

The village contains the Suffolk County Court House and 
Jail, the County Clerk's Office, the Agricultural Fair Grounds 
and Buildings, six churches, two grist-mills, two moulding 
and planing mills, a paper mill, three hotels, twenty stores, 
a cigar manufactory, and a considerable number of shops and 
offices. It is estimated that this village has a capital of half 
a million dollars employed in its mercantile and manufacturing 
enterprises. It has a population of about sixteen hundred, 
engaged mostly in various mechanical, commercial, and 
professional occupations. The first settlement of the village 
was commenced in 1690, by John Griffing and a few others. 
Its increase during the first hundred years was very small, 
the settlement at the close of the last century numbering 
only four or five houses. The progress of its growth during 
the present century may be inferred from the fact that in 
1843 the village contained seventy dwellings, and at the 
present time, thirty years later, contains two hundred and 
eighty. The first grist-mill was erected in 1695. The 



TOWN OF RIVERHEAD. 289 

Peconic River supplies power for driving a grist-mill and a 
paper mill, located at the village, and a woolen factory on the 
stream about a mile above. Another grist-mill in the village, 
is supplied by a canal leading from a pond about a mile away 
on the southwest. Bridge Street leaves Main near the centre 
of the village, and crosses the river at the head of boat navi- 
gation. The river up to this point is shoal, and the channel 
narrow and crooked. Several attempts have been made, 
at different times, to make it wider and deeper, so that 
medium or large sized vessels could come up to the 
village. An effort to accomplish this design was made in 
1835, and a stock company was incorporated for that purpose, 
and the work commenced, but it was discontinued before it 
had made any remarkable progress. ( Appropriations by the 
Legislatures of the State and General Government have been 
made within the last three years, to the amount of $30,000, 
and it is intended to dredge the channel seventy-five feet 
wide, at low water, from the village to the mouth of the river, 
a distance of two and three quarter miles. Trade on the 
river is now carried on by means of scows and small sloops, 
which receive the cargoes of large vessels at the river's mouth 
and bring them up to the village. The improvement of this 
river will add greatly to the benefit and prosperity of the 
village. 

The courts of Suffolk County were moved to Riverhead in 
1729, having previously been held at Southampton and 
Southold. A small frame building was erected in 1728, which 
answered both for court-house and jail, and the first court 
session was held in it March 27, 1729. This house stood 
until the storms and sunshine of a century had beaten it 



290 TOWN OF KIVEItHEAD. 

almost to detsruction, when it was repaired, reconstructed 
and enlarged, and a new jail building erected. The old 
court-house, now in a fair state of preservation, stands in a 
favorite position, in the centre of the village, and is occupied 
by several stores and offices. The present court-house occu- 
pies a spacious lot on Grifling Avenue, near the railroad 
depot. It was erected in 1854 and '55, at an expense of 
$17,800. The building committee were S. B. Nicoll, of 
Shelter Island ; Wm. R. Post, of Southampton ; and Sylves- 
ter Miller, of Riverhead ; appointed by the Board of Supervi- 
sors. The building is constructed of brick and stone, is two 
stories in height, with a basement beneath, and contains the 
court-room on the second floor, the grand and petit juries' 
rooms and supervisors' room, on the main floor, and apart- 
ments for the family of the sheriff or jailer on the main floor 
and in the basement. In the rear of the building is the jail- 
yard, the court-house forming one side, while the other three 
sides are protected by a high board fence, surmounted by a 
thickly set row of sharpened spikes. The jail, standing in 
the centre of this yard, is a small two-story octagon about 
thirty feet in diameter, and is built of stone. 

The record of capital punishment in this county, since the 
close of the Revolution is as follows. John Slocum was 
executed Sept. 4, 1786, for horse-stealing. William Erskine 
(colored) was executed Oct. 5, 1791, for rape. "William 
Enoch was executed Jan. 12, 1835, for the murder of his 
wife. John Hallock was executed July 2, 1836, for the mur- 
der of a colored woman. Samuel Johnson was executed July 
6, 1841, for the murder of his wife. Nicholas Behan was 



TOWN OF KIYEEHE1D. 



291 



executed Dec. 15, 1854, for the murder of James Wickman, 
at Cutchogue, June 2, 1854. 

The County Clerk's Office, a grim looking fire-proof build- 
ing, stands near the heart of the village, on the corner of 
Main Street and Griffing Avenue. It is a single, high story, 
about twenty by thirty feet on the floor, and its walls are 
completely lined with shelves and cases all filled up with 
documents, books, and massive record libers. Five men 
are constantly employed in the office, besides other, outside 
copyists who are employed part of the time, as necessity 
demands. As an illustration of the amount of business done 
at this office in the recording of deeds and mortgages, at the 
present time in comparison with the past, we will mention 
that Liber A, of Deeds, the first book in which such a record 
was kept by the County Clerk, notwithstanding its being a 
very small volume, was sufficient to contain all the deeds 
recorded from the year 1687 to the year 1714. Liber B 
begins with 1714, and ends with 1768. Liber C contains 
those records from 1768 to 1804. Liber A, of Mortgages, 
contains the record from 1755 to 1775 ; Liber B, from 1775 to 
to 4778 ; Liber C, from 1778 to 1794. The libers now used 
are massive, leather bound volumes, containing about six 
hundred pages each, and an average of five of these libers are 
now used every year for recording mortgages, and ten every 
year for deeds. Among the ancient records in this office is a 
small book containing a record of wills and court proceedings, 
covering a space of time from 1691 to 1733, which was for 
many years lost to the office, but was finally unearthed and 
returned Oct. 31, 1871, by Thomas S. Lester, of New York, a 
son of the Executor of the estate of EzraL'Hommedieu, who 



292 • TOWN OF RIVERHEAD. 

held the office of county clerk for a number of years, and 
among whose papers it was found. Another, still older book, 
contains the record of court proceedings, &c. , from 1669 to 
1684. The weight of records, documents and books on file in 
this office would amount to about six tons, and the written 
surface of its records would cover about eleven and a half 
acres of ground. N. arly all the available space in the present 
building is now occupied, and the constant accumulation of 
matter already calls for more room. The erection of a new 
office is being considered, and will probably soon be effected. 
The building proposed will be a fire-proof structure of two 
stories and a basement, twenty-eight by forty feet. 

The Fair Grounds of the Suffolk County Agricultural 
Society are located in the northwest part of the village, a short 
distance north of the railroad depot. The grounds cover an 
area of twenty and a quarter acres, which were bought for the 
surprisingly moderate figure of $1,650. This land was pur- 
chased by contributions from the people of Hiverhead, and 
donated to the Society for a permanent fair ground. The 
deed for it was delivered to the board of managers Jan. 22, 
1868. The ground was enclosed that year, with a substan- 
tial board fence, and in 1869 the exhibition hall was erected. 
This building cost about $5,000, and at the time of its erec- 
tion was one of the finest county exhibition halls in the State. 
Its ground plan describes a cross, each of the four wings 
extending thirty feet from the common centre, which is forty 
feet square, being the square of the width of the wings. A 
gallery about eight feet wide runs entirely around the interior 
of the building, and this is reached by eight separate stair- 
ways running up at the angles formed by the intersection of 



TOWN OF EIVERHEAD. 293 

the wings. "Wide doors open from the inain floor at the end of 
each wing. The building stands in the southern part of the 
enclosure. A small building occupied by the President's and 
Secretary's offices stands on the line of the street at the 
entrance gate, near the southeast corner of the grounds. 
Stalls for animals are ranged along the west side. A half- 
mile track, for the exhibition of horses and their trotting 
capabilities occupies the northern part. The total expense to 
the Society, for the grounds, buildings and improvements was 
about seven thousand dollars. 

Adjoining the Fair Grounds, en the east lies the village 
Cemetery. This is situated in a grove of young oaks, and is 
artistically laid out, with curved walks and avenues. It con- 
tains a great many neat and pretty monumental pieces, and 
well kept burial plats. In a circular, hedged enclosure, near 
the entrance, stands one of the most conspicuous structures 
in the cemetery — the soldiers monument. This was erected 
by the generosity of Hon. John S. Marcy, and contains the 
names of those who Were in the Union service from this vil- 
lage, in the late war. This cemetery contains about ten acres, 
only one half of which is improved, and it was opened for 
burial in September, 1859. * 

In 1829 a society of Congregationalists was formed from the 
membership of the church at Upper Aquebogue, and in 1831 
this society erected a house of worship about two miles east 
of this village. The membership of this society was divided 
between Eiverhead and Northville, and in 1834 the church 
was divided and a separate one organized in each place. 
The house of worship was moved to Northville and the society 
at Eiverhead occupied the lower room of the building which 



291 TOWN OF RIVERHEAD. 

had just been erected for a female seminary. This arrange- 
ment continued until the year 1842, when the present Con- 
gregational church was erected. It stands on Main Street, 
just east of the village centre, and having been rebuilt and en- 
larged in 1869, is a building of comfortable dimensions and re- 
spectable appearance. It occupies a roomy lot, and the Female 
Seminary above alluded to stands beside it. This building 
was erected in 1834, by Dr. Joshua Fanning and Mr. George 
Miller. Their object was to establish a first class school for 
young ladies, and also to provide a room for the accommoda- 
tion of religious services, without regard to any particular 
denomination or society. The upper floor was used for the 
school-room, and the lower floor for religious services. The 
school was opened in 1835, by Miss Leonard, who afterward 
became the wife of Mr. George Miller, and under her super- 
vision it has been continued from that time till within about 
a year of the present. The school has been well sustained, 
both by residents of the village and patrons from various 
parts of the island. During its many years of prosperity it 
had an average attendance of thirty to forty pupils. 

The Methodist Episcopal church, a splendid building, of 
magnificent proportions and elegant design, stands a short 
distance further east, on the same street. It is surrounded 
by a church-yard, well filled with graves. This building was 
commenced in 1869, and completed and dedicated in 1871, at 
a cost of about $12,000. The society to which it belongs 
rejoices in the fact that it is now clear of debt. This denom- 
ination was organized here in 1833, and its first house of 
worship was erected in 1834. This building, a very plainly 
finished house, was sold on completion of the new church, 



TOWN OF EIVEEHEAD. 295 

and no w stands on the opposite side of the street, near by. 

A New Jerusalem [Swedenborgian] church, a very neat 
edifice of moderate dimensions, stands on the corner of Abner 
and Second Streets, in the midst of the village. Services by 
this denomination were maintained for a number of years 
previous to the erection of a church, in a private hall. The 
house of worship was erected in 1855. A small cemetery 
belonging to this denomination lies in the northern part of 
the village, adjoining the Roman Catholic grounds. 

St. John's Roman Catholic church, built about five years 
ago, is a handsome edifice, to which is attached the residence 
of the officiating clergyman. This stands upon a lot of about 
two acres, belonging to the church, and a part of which is 
occupied as a burying-ground for the denomination. This 
lies a short distance north of the railroad. 

Directly west of the last mentioned church stands the 
Episcopal church, completed last spring, 1873. It occupies a 
lot extending from Washington to Roanoke Avenue, fronting 
on the latter. It is a handsome Gothic structure, finished 
inside with hard wood ceiling, arched overhead. 

A neat little chapel on Concord Street, in the eastern part 
of the village, was built by a society of Free Methodists, in 
1869. A church of that denomination was organized here 
Jan. 20, 1870, and has a 1 present a membership of about 
thirty. It is supplied with ministerial service in connection 
with a society of the same denomination at Greenport, which 
was organized at the same time. These are the only two 
societies of that denomination in the county. 

The public school of this village is accommodated in a 
handsome building, composed of three wings, standing in the 



296 TOWN OF EIVEEHEAD. 

eastern part of the village. It occupies a lot which affords 
convenient room for play-grounds adjoining the Methodist 
Episcopal church yard on the east. The building is two 
stories high, and was brought to its present dimensions by 
the enlargement of the former house in 1867, and again in 
1871. It was organized as a Union School in April, 1871 . 
Six teachers are employed in the school, whose aggregate 
salaries amount to $2, £00 a year. The average number of 
scholars attending the school is three hundred. 

The village has two fire-engine companies, sustained by 
voluntary effort and enterprise. Red Bird Engine Co., No. 1, 
was organized in 1836. It has thirty-eight members and 
owns a first class engine and two hundred feet of hose. 
Washington Engine Co., No. 2, was organized June 1. 1861. 
This has thirty members, and own a larger engine, and four 
hundred feet of hose. Riverhead Lodge, No. 645, F. & A. 
M., was organized May 2, 1867, with fourteen charter mem- 
bers. It is in a flourishing condition, and has at present a 
membership of one hundred and nine. A Division of Sons 
of Temperance has been in existence here since the early 
days of the order, some twenty-five years. It now numbers 
eighty-five members. The Riverhead Savings Bank was first 
opened for business on Saturday, June 1, 1872. During its 
first year of business it opened accounts with four hundred 
and twenty depositors, and received deposits to the amount of 
seventy thousand dollars. A newspaper, called the Suffolk 
Gazette, was started in this village in August, 1849. In the 
early part of 1851 it was moved to Sag Harbor, where it was 
published until Dec. 1854. when it was moved back to River- 
head and soon after discontinued. The Suffolk Union wa3 






TOWN OP RTVEKHEAD. 297 

started here in 1859, by Washington Van Zandt. It was 
continued until the winter of 1862-3, when its office was de- 
stroyed by fire, and the publication of the paper suspended. 
The Suffolk County Monitor was started here in 1865, by Buel 
G. Davis, and suspended in 1866. The Riverhead Weekly 
News, the only paper now published in the village, was 
commenced in March, 1868, by James B. Slade its present 
publisher. 

Kiverhead, being the county seat, and centre of attraction 
for nearly all the public gatherings of the county people, is 
much better furnished with hotel accommodations than would 
be required to answer the necessity of its own local business, 
though its arrangements in this respect are not as extensive 
as they should be to fully meet the demand of the frequent 
floods of visitors called together here. Besides a number of 
smaller boarding houses, there are three large hotels, the 
Griffing House, on the avenue of that name, and the Long 
Island House, and Suffolk Hotel, on Main Street. 

One of the heaviest business enterprises of this place is the 
moulding and planing mill of Charles Hallett. This is situa- 
ted on the bank of the river, just below the bridge, and the 
yard of the establishment has a dock front of one hundred 
feet on the river, where vessels can discharge lumber directly 
at the door of the mill. When the proposed improvement of 
the river is completed, vessels drawing six to eight feet of 
water can float up to this dock. This mill was started in 
1868. Mr. Hallett in 1857 started a large planing and mould- 
ing mill just above the bridge, where the river supplied a 
water power for driving the machinery. That building and 
power is now used for a paper mill, and manufactory of 



298 TOWN OF RIVERHEAD. 

wagon jacks, the former enterprise being owned by Mr. 
Hallett, and the latter by the Swezey Brothers. Hallett's mould- 
ing mill occupies a building forty by two hundred and 
twenty feet on the ground, and three floors in height. . It 
contains thirty different wood-working machines, and employs 
about fifty men. The machinery, with which the building is 
nearly filled, is driven by a sixty-horse-power steam engine. 
The establishment turns out about $100,000 worth of work 
annually, and this work is sent to all parts of the island. 
Fleming's planing and moulding mill, also run by steam, 
stands on the river, a short distance below. Two lumber 
yards are also located in this neighborhood. Hallett's paper 
mill, started about two years since, in the building first occu- 
pied by the planing and moulding mill, employs six men and 
turns out about a ton of straw board a day. This paper is 
made of oats, wheat and rye straw, about equal proportions 
of each. The straw is first placed in a large tank which will 
hold about a ton, and lime is sprinkled all through as it is put 
in. When the tank is filled steam is turned on, entering at 
the bottom and penetrating the whole mass. This process 
continues about twelve hours, when the rotted straw is placed 
in a tank, with water, where it is torn to pieces and ground 
into a pulp. To do this thoroughly requires about two 
hours, after which the pulp is run into another tank where it 
is mixed with more water, and from which it is led into a tray 
in which a wire gauze cylinder is constantly revolving. The 
pulpy mass, which at this stage of the process is thinner than 
cream, adheres to the cylinder, while the water drains 
through. As the cylinder revolves it comes in contact with 
a wide felt band which attracts the pulp from it and deposits 






TOWN OF RIVEKHEAD. 299 

it on a solid wooden cylinder, under pressure. As often as 
the layer of paper thus formed on the wooden cylinder be- 
comes the required thickness for a sheet of board, it is cut 
and pulled off. The board after being dried, is run through 
between heavy iron rollers, where it is subjected to a pressure 
equal to many tons weight, and then it is ready for market. 
This mill is run during about eight months of the year,^and 
in that time manufactures about one hundred and twenty-five 
tons of straw board. Perkins' woolen factory, located on the 
river, about a mile above the village, is engaged in the man- 
ufacture of stocking yarn, flannel and cassimeres. The value 
of its manufactures amounts to about $20,000 a year. The 
organ manufactory of Earle & Bradley stands on the railroad 
line, opposite the depot. The manufacture of pipe organs 
was commenced in this village by George W. Earle, in Dec. 
1868. Twelve to fifteen hands are employed in this establish- 
ment, and a very superior quality of work is turn- d out. Pipe 
organs ranging in value from $500 to $5000 are built here. 
Organs have been built by this firm for several of the large 
churches of this county, but their largest orders are from 
New York and its neighboring cities and towns. An organ 
worth $5,000 was completed here last spring, for a church in 
New Jersey, and two others have since been built for churches 
in New York, at prices of $2,400 and $3,500. 

The suburb of this village lying on the south side of the 
river is locally known as "Brooklyn." A small African church 
is located there. This is over the line, in Southampton town. 

About two miles north of Biverhead lies a tributary settle- 
ment cr lied Middle-Boad. This consists of about twenty-five 
farm houses, scattered along a road which runs e;;st and -.vest 






300 TOWN OF EIVERHEAD. 

through a swampy locality, for a distance of two or three 
miles. A district school is situated in the midst of the vicin- 
age. 

Aquebogue is an ancient settlement extending along the 
Middle Country Koad about four miles, and joining Biver- 
head on the west. It contains two schools, — one near each 
end^of the settlement — a church, two stores and several 
shops. A saw mill and carriage manufactory is located on a 
small stream near the railroad, about a mile south of the main 
road. The church of this village, belonging to the Congre- 
gational denomination, is a large, noble structure, standing 
on the north side of the village street, near the head of the 
Meeting House Creek, which puts in from Peconic Bay. 
This house of worship was erected in the latter part of the 
year 1862, and inherited from its successor the title of the 
* 'Steeple Church." The former building, to which this title 
was first given, was built in 1797, and in 1833 re -modeled and 
re-built, at which time the steeple which suggested the title 
was placed upon it. On the opposite side of the road from 
the church lies a burying ground of about two acres, which 
was commenced in that use in 1755. The first church of this 
parish stood on this ground, and was probably built shortly 
before that time : the exact date is not known. The village 
street is a pleasant one, and it continues through an unbroken 
settlement for several miles eastward. This village contains 
a population of three hundred and fifty. It was formerly 
called Upper Aquebogue, to distinguish it from the settle- 
ment of Lower Aquebogue which adjoins it on the east. 

About two miles of the Country Koad, running east from 
the last noticed sottlemeat, was formerly called Lower, or 



TOWN OF KIVEKHEAD. 301 

Old Aquebogue. This comprises about forty bouses, and 
contains a church, school, store, a few mechanic shops, and a 
somewhat ancient burying-ground. The first church in the 
town was built here. The society was founded as a Presbyterian 
church, and the edifice erected in 1731. It was repaired and 
enlarged in 1830, and rebuilt in its present shape in 1859, the 
denomination having been changed to the Congregational 
form a few months before. It belongs to the Congregational 
denomination. This settlement is now included in the sec- 
tion called Jamesport. The railroad station bearing that 
name is a short half mile below the main road. 

The village proper of Jamesport, lies on the shore of 
Great Peconic Bay, about one mile south of the railroad. It 
has a wharf at the head of ship navigation, five and a half 
miles below Biverhead. The village site is pleasantly located 
and regularly laid out with numerous streets crossing each 
other at right angles. It was the design of its founders to 
establish here a flourishing and important maritime village. 
The settlement was begun in 1833, at which time there was 
not a habitation here. Within five or six years from that 
time about forty dwellings were erected, but the village has 
made but little progress since. In 1843 there were two or 
three whale-ships belonging to this port. It now contains a 
store, a school, and a Methodist Episcopal church. This 
latter building w T as erected at the commencement of the set- 
tlement, by the people of the village, for a school, or house of 
worship, whichever it might be needed for. In 1854 the 
Methodist society, which had worshiped in it from the com- 
mencement, effected its purchase, and in 1871 it was ren- 
ovated. 



302 TOWN OF KIVEKHEAD. 

The Jamesport camp-meeting grounds are located in a 
pleasant grove just south of the railroad depot. The first 
camp-meeting ever held here was in September, 1834. The 
ground was then owned by the Methodist Society, who in 
1854 exchanged their title to it for the ownership of the house 
of worship. In 1870 it was re-purchased for camp-meeting 
purposes, by the Suffolk County Camp-Meeting Association, 
and has since been held for that use. In April, 1873, this 
Association was incorporated by a charter from the State 
Legislature. By this charter its management is vested in a 
board of twenty-seven trustees, two-thirds of whom are re- 
quired to be members of the M. E. Church. This ground 
comprises about six acres, and was purchased at a cost of 
$1,000. The expense for the preachers' head-quarters and 
other improvements that have been made upon it, amount to 
about $2,000. 

The village of Franklinville, which is the continuation of 
the line of settlement along the Country Koad, lies mostly 
within the limits of Southold town, and will be noticed in that 
chapter. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



SOUTHAMPTON TOWN— HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. 



The town of Southampton occupies the greater part of the 
lower peninsula of the east end of Long Island. It is a little 
more than thirty miles in length, and varies in width from 
half a mile to eight miles. It is widest at the ends, and is 
nearly cut in two in the middle by the indentations of Shin • 
necock and Great Peconic Bays. It is bounded on the south, 
outside the beach, by the Atlantic Ocean ; on the west it joins 
Brookhaven ; on the north it is separated from Biverhead and 
Southold by Peconic Biver, and Great and Little Peconic 
Bays. The town of Easthampton joins it on the east. 

This town contains ninety-one thousand, five hundred 
acres, about one-third of which is under cultivation. The 
north side is hilly and sandy, and for the most part covered 
with forest growth. The settlements are along the south side, 
bordering the bays and the ocean. The soil of the western 
half is with few local exceptions light and sandy. East of 
Shinnecock Hills the south part is a beautiful plain of level 
fertile land. Stock-raising, farming and fishing are the 
leading pursuits of the people. 

In the early part of the year 1640, a company of eight 
young Englishmen banded themselves together at Lynn, 
Mass., purchased a small sloop, for the sum of £80, and in it 
started out to establish a settlement upon the then unfurrowed 
island of Paumanacke. The sloop was commanded by one of 



304 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

the party, Capt. Daniel Howe, to whom the other owners 
assigned their various shares, to be paid for in the transporta- 
tion of goods and passengers at rates which were to be speci- 
fied. Further conditions stipulated that the vessel was to be 
kept by the said Daniel Howe, and to make as many as three 
trips a year between Lynn and their proposed "plantation" 
on the Island. This agreement was entered into before the 
departure from Lynn, and the original document entitled 
" The Disposall of the Vessell" is still preserved among the 
records of the town. It is dated March 10, 1639. The little 
band of pioneers thus organized, purchased of James Farrett, 
Agent for Earl Stirling, the right to further purchase of the 
Indians and thus to possess, eight miles square any where 
upon the island that they might select. The equivalent to be 
paid to Farrett for this right was four bushels of Indian corn. 
After a month or so spent in exploring, the parties landed 
at Cow Bay, (in Queens County) and after bargaining with 
the Indians for a tract of land, commenced a settlement. 
They had proceeded in this enterprise but a little while 
when the Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam, William Keift, 
who had previously purchased these lands of the Indians, and 
whose authority the Lynn settlers had disregarded, sent a 
squad of twenty-eight soldiers and officers, and arrested the 
"foreign strollers " who had thus intruded upon his posses- 
sions, " and even hewn down the arms of High Mightinesses." 
Six of the party were taken to Fort Amsterdam and examined 
before the Governor. This was on the 15th of May. Four 
days afterwards they were discharged on condition that 
they should abandon their settlement and depart beyond the 
Dutch claim. This they did as soon as practicable after their 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 305 

release, and, sailing down the sound, through Plum Gut and 
up Peconic Bay, they landed at North Sea, and some time 
during the month of June commenced the settlement of 
Southampton. 

July 7th, following this, Farrett defines the boundaries of 
the plantation as beginning at the isthmus now called Canoe 
Place, and extending eastward the whole breadth of the land 
as far as the present limits of the town go. The settlers 
whose names appear in Farrett's grant were Edward Howell, 
John Gosmer, Edward Farrington, Daniel Howe, Thomas 
Halsey, Edward Needham, Allen Breed, Thomas Sayro, 
Henry Walton, George Wells, William Harker, and Job 
Sayre. 

The reader will perhaps notice that according to the dates 
as we have given them from history and the records of this 
town, there appears to have been a difference of more than a 
year between the time when the settlers of Southampton 
made ready to leave Lynn, and the time when they first 
appeared upon the island. Howell, in his History of South- 
ampton explains away this mystery in a very satisfactory 
manner by referring to the fact that about that time 
there existed a custom of reckoning the year as com- 
mencing with the 25th of March, so that while the first part 
of that month was counted in the year 1639 the latter part (or 
the remaining days after the 25th) of the same month was 
counted in the year 1640. This makes it plain that in reality 
the date of their landing at Cow Bay, about the middle of 
April 1640, was but little more than a month after their prep- 
arations for leaving Lynn, as indicated by the " Disposail of 
tho Vessel]," dated March 10th, 1639, 



306 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

December 13, 1640, the Shinnecock Indians gave to the 
settlers a deed for this land, in consideration of sixteen coats 
already received, and sixty bushels of corn to be delivered by 
the last of September 1641, and a further condition that the 
said white settlers should defend them against the unlawful 
and unjust attack of any other Indians that might assail them. 

The town as thus first laid out comprised only about half 
its present territory. A deed for the remaining or western 
half was given by the Indians to the "Townsmen of South- 
ampton," Sept. 17, 1666. April 10, 1662, four years previous, 
the same tract had been purchased of the Indians by Thomas 
Topping, for twenty fathoms of wampum. In order to quell 
the dissatisfaction manifested by the Indians at the encroach- 
ments of civilization upon their territory the whole town was 
re-purchased of them Aug. 16, 1703, for which they received 
£20. In this way did the early inhabitants of the town pre- 
serve peace with the Indians, by compromising with their 
fickleness and ignorance. In addition to this they were 
subjected to the further annoyance of being twice compelled 
to take out patents under the different governors that were 
appointed over them. The first of these was granted under 
Gov. Andross, Nov. 1, 1676, and the second, which was but 
an amendment or confirmation of the first, under Gov. Don- 
gan, Dec. 6, 1686. 

The lands at first were held and occupied by the inhab- 
itants in common, but the increase of immigration soon ren- 
dered it necessary to make a division of lands among individ- 
uals in proportion to the various amounts each had invested 
in the purchase of them. In the early days of this little 
colony the people were their own legislators and jurors, and 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 307 

assembled together twice a year, or oftener, for the purpose 
of attending to and deciding any civil or criminal cases that 
might be brought before them, and passing such laws as 
seemed appropriate or necessary. 

In 1644 the people of this town placed their heretofore 
independent government under the protection of the colony 
of Connecticut. By this arrangement the town was to have 
jurisdiction over its own local affairs, and to nominate, 
annually, three magistrates for the town, two only of which 
were to be approved and appointed by the General Court of 
Connecticut. These magistrates were the guardians and dis- 
pensers of justice, and had authority in all cases except where 
capital punishment was involved. Such cases were to be 
referred to the courts of Connecticut. An appeal was allowed 
from the decisions of these magistrates to the people of the 
town assembled in annual town-meeting. 

Among the regulations and orders passed by the town at 
different times, the following fines and penalties were pre- 
scribed. For lying, by a person over fourteen years of age, 
a fine of five shillings, or a seat in the stocks five hours. For 
stealing a man's working tools, a fine of ten shillings. If a 
man went on a spree and became drunken, he was fined ten 
shillings for the first offence, twenty shillings for the second, 
and thirty shillings for the third. If an Indian dug ground- 
nuts on land occupied by the whites, he should be set in the 
stocks, and if he persisted, the second time he was caught he 
should be whipped. If a youth under sixteen should steal 
any fruit from his neighbor's orchard, the law required that 
his parents should wallop him severely, in the presence of a 
spectator. If the culprit had no parents to administer this 



308 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

ordinance, or if they refused to do it, the magistrates should 
attend to it personally, and in \he latter case also impose a 
sufficient joenalty upon the parent for his negligence. If a 
man spoke disrespectfully of his neighbor he was fined more 
or less, according to the circumstances of the case, or some- 
times sharply whipped. When a woman got in the way of 
using harsh words, she was stood up in court with a split 
stick on her tongue. The Puritan settlers believed in enforc- 
ing the doctrines of the Bible to the very letter, and this was 
the way they h td of bridling the tongue — that unruly mem- 
ber. Suppose these regulations were in force all over the 
country at the present day ? Wouldn't magistrates and reve- 
nue officers have stirring times, collecting fines, picking up 
drunken men, whittling out split sticks, and lathering bad 
boys ? 

The town kept a very strict watch over the character of its 
inhabitants, as their number increased. New comers were 
placed on probation for a season, to prove their honesty and 
good behavior, before being admitted to the full privileges of 
free-holders, and if their character proved unsatisfactory they 
were rejected and obliged to leave the jurisdiction. No 
inhabitant was allowed to sell his house or land to a stranger, 
except he was approved by the town. 

Wolves in early times were made a special subject of legisla- 
tion. Rewards of twenty and thirty shillings were offered by 
the town at different times for killing them. 

Though the people were on professedly amicable terms 
with the Indians it appears they were most of the time sus- 
picious of thsni, and lived in constant fear of an outburst of 
the savage element. All male citizens over sixteen years of 



TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 309 

age, unless exempt by law, were required to assemble for 
military drill six times a year, and to hold themselves in con- 
stant readiness for defense of the settlement. In cases of 
sudden attack an alarm was to be given by the firing of one 
or more guns, hearing which the people were to assemble at 
specified points, equipped for action. These regulations were 
more strictly enforced during such times as danger seemed 
imminent. We do not learn, however, as any attacks were 
ever made by the Indians upon the people of this town. 

The Indian name for this section was Agawam. The name 
Southampton, was given in remembrance of the place in Eng- 
land from which the settlers immigrated to this country. 

In 1644 the town passed regulations for equitably disposing 
of any whales that should be cast upon the beach, so as to 
give the whole people a share in such prizes, instead of allow- 
ing the greedy discoverers to monopolize the whole. The 
discoverer of a stranded whale was to receive a reward of five 
shillings for his trouble, "but yf yt shall be by the Magistrate 
or whom he shall appoint adjudged not to be worth five shil- 
lings, then the sayd parties which shall give information shall 
have yt for his paynes." It was further specified that if any 
one should find a whale on the Sabbath day, he should not be 
entitled to any reward. In later years the business of cruis- 
ing along the shore in small boats, after whales, grew up and 
was extensively engaged in by the people of this town. 

The following items are worthy of preservation. In 1641 
the town forbade the sale or transfer of any war-like imple- 
ments to the Indians, under penalty of confiscation of the 
entire personal effects of the party so transgressing. In 1645 
the town required each family to take turns in swiping out 



310 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

the meeting-house, and making fire in it on Sunday mornings, 
in cold weather. Delinquents in the matter were subject to 
a line of two shillings and six pence a time. The same year 
the people, in order to be prepared for a sudden attack from 
the Indians, carried their fire-arms to church with them on 
Sundays. In 1680 the town paid their minister £100 a year 
in produce, at specified rates, besides the use of certain lands, 
and shares in the commonage. It appears that a mill for 
grinding grain was established at a very early period, and 
that this enterprise was under the management of the town. 
In 1652 "the town meeting agreed to allow their neighbors 
of Easthampton liberty to grind their corn at their mill, pro- 
vided they helped to open the sepoose. " In 1665 the town 
authorized John Jessup to "call forth thirty men to goe to 
the west sepoose," probably to assist in some repairing which 
was necessary. In the year 1653, during the time when the 
peace of the English settlements on Long Island was greatly 
disturbed by the suspicion that the Indians and the Dutch 
were conspiring to exterminate or drive them away, the 
general court of the town ordered that no Indian should be 
allowed to come within a specified distance of the village, nor 
to come to the mill with any gun or bow and arrow. The 
same year Jonas Wood was deputed to go to Connecticut, "to 
obtaine for ye towne a store of ammunition. " At that early 
period it seems the matter of establishing a permanent con- 
nection between Shinnecock Bay and the Ocean must have 
received considerable attention. August 18th of that year, 
*'At a towne meetinge it is ordered that there shall be another 
attempt to let go Shinnecock water. Thompson says, "In 
the year 1675 there were in this town seventy-five men who 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 311 

b'jre arms in the militia." The total population of the town 
in 1698 was nine hundred and seventy-four. Of these there 
were three hundred and eighty-four "male Christians," 
three hundred and fifty "female Christians," forty male, and 
forty-three female negro slaves, and one hundred and fifty- 
two Indians, including women and children. 

A part of the village of Eastport, which has been noticed in 
connection with Brookhaven, extends into the southwest 
corner of this town. A Methodist Protestant church was 
built in the eastern part of this village about the year 1846. 
Seatuck Eiver divides the village nearly in the middle. An- 
other stream, of smaller size, runs down half a mile east of it, 
furnishing power for driving a saw and grist mill. The sec- 
tion between these two streams was once called Waterville. 

Speonk is a small village, rather compact for one of its 
class, lying in the west part of this town, about one mile 
from the boundary. The station on the Sag Harbor Branch 
R. R. is near the western part of the village, and two and a 
quarter miles east of Moriches Station. Speonk has a popula- 
tion of about two hundred. Its habitations, forty-five in 
number, occupy the sides of a single street, one mile and a 
half in length, running nearly parallel with the railroad and 
half to three fourths of a mile south of it. The whole village 
is beautifully located on a level neck of fine farming land, 
within full view of the bay about' half a mile distant, and the 
beach hills beyond. Its inland skirts abound with pleasant 
groves of oak timber. The people are nearly all farmers of 
the well-to-do sort. Fish Creek is a pond of salt water tribu- 
tary to the bay and skirted by flats of salt meadow, on the 



312 TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 

western boundary. The noticable institutions of the place 
are a district school, a post-office, a church, an academy and 
a summer boarding house. The latter is the Bay Side House, 
opened during the season of 1872 for the first time. Its loca- 
tion is near the centre of the village, and affords a delightful 
view of the beach, the bay, and the adjoining meadows. A 
very neat building, intended for an academy, was erected 
here about ten years ago, and a school was kept up in it a few 
years by Mr. John Tuttle, a native of this place. The in- 
stitution is now closed. The church of this place was 
originally Presbyterian, but late arrangements have placed it 
under the care of the Methodist Protestant persuasion, in 
connection with the church of that denomination at Eastport. 

Westhampton is a settlement, or rather a group of settle- 
ments, of extended but indefinite limits, covering ground 
enough for a respectable sized township, next in order east, 
and contiguous to Speonk. It is properly separated from the 
latter by Speonk River. This river rises just above the rail- 
road line, about one and a half miles from the Bay. It 
supplies a mill-pond, the upper end of which is crossed by the 
Branch R. R. , and on the dam at the lower end is the car- 
riage shop of E. P. & L. Tuttle. The business was estab- 
lished here in 1844, by Mr. Daniel Tuttle, father of the 
present proprietors. The present building, erected in 1859, 
is of brick, twenty-five by sixty- two feet on the ground, and 
two stories high. It contains various machinery for sawing 
turning, boring, drilling and otherwise shaping and working 
wood and metal, all driven by water power. Some very nice, 
substantial and even showy carriages are fitted up at thid 
shop. 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 313 

The land on the east side of this river, and below the road 
which crosses the dam is known by the name of Brushy Neck. 
It contains a few houses. Next east of it is a rather indefinite 
locality called Tanner's Neck, from the fact that many years 
ago one of the early settlers, a Deacon Jagger, carried on the 
tanning business here. The neighborhood from Speonk 
River extending about half a mile east, including these two 
necks, and covering altogether perhaps twenty houses, has 
lately received the name of Union Place. A Methodist 
Episcopal church, erected in 1833, stands in the eastern part 
of the vicinity, upon the principal road through it. This 
road is the continuation of the one which branches off 
to the south from the old Country Road at Eastport, and forms 
the main street of that village, Speonk, and this place, join- 
ing the Country Road again at Beaver Dam, about a mile east 
of here. 

At Beaver Dam we find an ancient mill site. Tradition 
claims that the dam on which the mill is located was actually 
constructed by those industrious animals in whose honor it 
was named. The Westhampton post-ofiice, a store, a black- 
smith and wheelwright shop are located near here. Also a 
respectable sized brick school house. Near this is the old 
burying ground, covering a lot of three or four acres. In 
this we find some ancient graves, made about the middle of 
the last century, or perhaps before. The most prominent 
memory piece here is the soldiers monument, erected by the 
people of this parish in honor of their neighbors who fell 
while in the Union service during the late war. It is about 
sixteen feet high, by three and a half feet square at the base, 
p and was erected in 1SG3. The material is a coarse brown 



314: TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

stone. The die contains the following inscription and names. 
"Westhampton's tribute to the patriotism and bravery of her 
sons, who in the war for the preservation of the Union, 
heroically fought, and honorably fell." Capt. Franklin B. 
Hallock, Serg't Cyrus D. Tuthill, Corp. Hiram H. Wines, 
Reeves H. Hayens, Timothy W. Robinson, Thomas M. 
Smith, Edward Stephens, James E. Griffing, Henry S. Ray- 
nor. 

Westhampton station is about a mile north of here, and 
two miles and three quarters east of Speonk. Down the west 
side of the stream upon which Beaver Dam is situated is a 
hamlet of less than half a dozen houses called by the Indian 
name of Pautuck. On the east side of the same creek we find 
another little hamlet rejoicing in the name of Onock. Edwin 
C. Halsey has a large summer boarding house here. It is 
supplied with gas, manufactured on the premises. This 
house is in convenient proximity to the bay, and as that body 
of water is quite narrow here, the beach and ocean are easily 
reached. The land here is level, and though naturally light, 
is well fed with fish and other fertilizers from the bay, and 
therefore made productive. Next east of this is the hamlet of 
Potuck, similar in general character to those we have passed, 
while just beyond that, we reach the breezy plain of Ketch- 
aboneck, which lies upon the west bank of Assjjatuck 
Creek. At this place is a small store and a district 
school. The Howell House, by Mortimer D. Howell, is a 
magnificent summer boarding house at this place. Its loca- 
tion is in the midst of a beautiful lawn, with an unobstructed 
prospect of the beach hills less than a mile away. This house, 
since its completion in 1866, has been the resort at times dur- 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 315 

ing the "heated term," of the great showman, P. T. Barnum, 
He had spent some time here as a guest of the proprietor's 
father, before its erection, and in his "Struggles and Tri- 
umphs " he relates some of his amusing experiences while 
here in his genial and interesting style. 

From this place a road leads directly across to the beach, 
the great bay at this extremity being so narrow that it is 
spanned by a bridge. On this road, and within h ilf a mile 
of the ever thundering breakers, stands the sea side residence of 
Gen. John A. Dix. This spacious and elegant mansion, 
erected but a few years ago, stands by itself upon the ojDen 
plain, and shows in conspicuous relief against the naked 
landscape which surrounds it. The ground in the vicinity is 
level, and nearly as destitute of trees or shrubbery as the 
desert of Sahara. A lawn has been graded and "seeded 
down " in front, and young trees planted upon it, which will 
in time afford a refreshing shade, and relieve the monotony of 
the scenery. Notwithstanding the lack of trees or shade, this 
region during the heat of summer, is one of the coolest spots 
on the whole island. The very absence of any amount of 
trees or shrubs is a favorable condition to the free circulation 
of that almost invariable sea-breeze which sweeps over the 
land during the summer afternoon. 

A dam and bridge across Asspatuck Creek connects Ketch- 
aboneck with Quiogue. This little hamlet of about half a 
dozen dwellings occupies a peninsula which is about half a 
mile in width, and lies between the last named creek on the 
west and Quantuck Creek on the east. Both these creeks 
empty into Quantuck Bay, which is connected by a narrow 
outlet with the extremity of the East Bay. 



316 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

The Presbyterian church of the parish of Westhampton, a 
plain building, but of comfortable size, stands in the border 
of the woods at this place. The first church of this parish 
was erected sometime about the middle of the last century. 
It stood within or hard by the burying ground we have no- 
ticed at Beaver Dam, about two miles west of here. The 
present house was erected in 1831, and dedicated Jan. 20, 
1832. 

Westhampton Lodge, No. 885, of Good Templars, was 
organized on the 15th of April, 1869. It now numbers about 
forty-eight members. 

Several fish oil factories have been established on the beach 
opposite Westhampton. 

Quogue, situated upon a level plain, just east of the latter 
place, is a small village, rather compact, containing a sub- 
stantial population of one hundred and fifty, which is during 
the month of July and August temporarily increased to four 
or five times that number. This periodical increase is due to 
the "boiling over " of New York city during the heated term. 
The true aboriginal name of this place is supposed to have 
been Quaquanantuck, though from the similarity of the words , 
it seems to us more reasonable to suppose that this long name 
may have been the origin of Quantuck, the name of the 
small bay lying southwest of here. Quogue is a favorite 
watering place. It lies directly on the ocean, — only a flat of 
maado'w about half a mile in width intervening between the 
village street and the beach hills on the shore. 

It is fashionable, and perfectly natural for city dwellers, 
accustomed to the ceaseless round of confusion and excite- 
ment, and surfeited by the exquisitely refined nonsense of 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 317 

artificial life, to resort for a season, as if in desperation, to 
the very opposite extreme of scenery and surroundings. 
From the city, where every inch of ground, and all that is 
possible of aerial space, is filled with the works of man, and 
the very air is darkened by swarms of human bees, it is a 
joyous relief to fiee to the solitude of these desolate and 
barren hills, where one sees nothing but the crude formations 
of nature and hears no other sound but the uncultivated 
voice of the murmuring sea. "What are the wild waves 
saying ? " is a question which many poetic dreamers have 
proj^ounded as they stood upon the burning sand and 
watched the ocean rave and wallow at their feet, as if mad 
with its fruitless attempts to communicate some important 
warning or information to the minds of men. 

This recreation of city people daring the hot summer 
months gives to this place its life, and the pecuniary result is 
its chief support. Six large houses are open during the sum- 
mer, for the reception of visitors. The village street describes 
a semi-circle, sweeping down towards the ocean and landward 
again. The village cemetery lies back of the settlement, in 
the fields. Near the centre of the village, on the corner of a 
street running to the ocean, is a neat little chapel, built in 
1871, open to all Christian denominations, but under the care 
of the Presbyterian society of this parish, [Westhampton. ] 
The village has a store and a post-office. 

On the beach opposite this place, a visionary genius, sup- 
ported by capitalists from the city, commenced a few years 
ago extensive experiments in the manufacture of iodine from 
the salt water of the ocean. Large buildings were erected, 
and the process commenced on an extravagant scale, but the 



318 TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 

project proved a failure and was abandoned. Shortly after- 
ward the engineering spirit of that enterprise conceived the 
idea of manufacturing steel from the sand on the beach. 
Capitalists were again found to support the project, and mag- 
nificent experiments were set on foot in this new direction. 
The result of these experiments seemed to prove that a supe- 
rior article of steel could be produced here, but at so great a 
cost as to forbid any profits arising from the business. The 
enterprise was therefore pronounced a failure, and the estab- 
lishment with its machinery was sold at great sacrifice, and 
has been removed. 

Two miles northeast of Quogue, on a neck of land lying 
between two small arms which project inland from the west- 
ern part of Shinnecock Bay, is the village of Atlanticville, 
formerly called Fourth Neck. By the census of 1870 it has 
a population of one hundred and seventy-nine. The people 
are mostly small farmers, fishermen and mechanics. On the 
northern limit of the settlement is a small brook to which the 
Indians gave the name of Weesuck. The place has a "right 
smart" district school, a small M. E. church, a store and 
post-office. A Division of the Sons of Temperance was 
instituted here Feb. 4, 1869, and now numbers fifty-five 
members. 

Quogue Station, on the Sag Harbor Branch B. K., is located 
half a mile northwest from the upper end of this village, and 
about three miles from Quogue. The station representing 
Quogue was formerly located about a mile and a half west of 
the present stopping place, at a point more convenient for the 
people, but owing to some difficulty in regard to the erection 
of depot buildings, it was removed hither, evidently as a 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 319 

means of reducing the obdurate Quogue people to a proper 
degree of penitence and submission. The accommodations at 
this station are a platform and a side track. This station is 
about three and a half miles east of Westhampton. A very 
few houses are scattered about the vicinity. 

About three score and ten years ago there stood a small 
house on the north side of the old South Country Road, about 
two miles west of the isthmus of Canoe Place, and about four 
miles east of the present village of Atlanticville. The house 
stood alone in a valley, on or near the premises now owned 
by Mr. Elisha King, and it was then occupied by an aged 
widow lady. In this comparatively fertile valley there stood 
a pool of water, no doubt on a clay bottom. Walking near it 
one day the old lady picked up a lump of the soil and made 
the chance remark "this is good ground.'" From this un- 
important incident the village of Good Ground took its name. 
Such is the tradition handed down among the natives of the 
place. 

Since that time this locality has become an important 
centre to the inhabitants of the neighboring hamlets. The 
principal part of the village lies along the road a distance of 
one mile from east to west, and contains twenty-six dwellings, 
a Methodist Episcopal church, built in 1836, three stores, a 
post-office, hotel, windmill, and a district school. The soil is 
light, and favorable to the growth of small fruits. Large 
quantities of strawberries were shipped from here during the 
season of 1S72 to the Boston "Jubilee." The Branch R. R. 
lies parallel with the village street, twenty to forty rods south 
of it. Good Ground depot is four miles and a quarter east of 
Quogue Station. 



320 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

■ 

The peninsula of Ponquogue, or more thoroughly aborigi- 
nalized, Paugonquogue, projects southward from the neigh- 
borhood of Good Ground into Shinnecock Bay, and nearly 
divides it into two parts. This peninsula is quite regular in 
form, and about two miles across it in either direction. It is 
partly covered with oakjand pine forest, and the surface for the 
most part is level and very sandy. On a point which forms 
its southern extremity is a clearing containing the hamlet of 
Ponquogue. This settlement contains fifteen dwellings and 
the Light House, which stands in majestic conspicuousness 
upon the point, a little in advance of the habitations and just 
one mile from the ocean shore. The lantern is one hundred 
and fifty feet from the ground, and one hundred and sixty 
feet above the level of the sea, and is reached by a flight of 
one hundred and eighty-nine steps. It is of French manu- 
facture, the lens of the first order, and the light a stationary 
one, visible thirty-five miles at sea. This " Light " was built 
in 1857, and lighted for the first time on the night of Jan. 1. 
1858. The Bay View House, a commodious hotel standing 
near this point, is well patronized by pleasurists who wish to 
enjoy the facilities for gunning and fishing which the place 
affords. 

About a mile northwest of Ponquogue, on Smith's Creek, is 
a settlement of eighteen houses called Springville. This is on 
the west side of the peninsula. The most prominent institu- 
tion of the place is a district school of one hundred and 
twenty pupils. Still further up, and on the creek which 
forms the western boundary of the peninsula, and gives the 
locality its name, is the hamlet of Tianna, containing fourteen 



TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 321 

houses. This is about a mile southwest of the village centre 
of Good Ground. 

Red Creek is a scattered neighborhood, containing half a 
dozen houses, located three miles northwest of Good Ground, 
near Peconic Bay. Southport Bay is a wing of the bay lying 
behind a narrow strip of land called Red Cedar Point, which 
projects a mile northwest into the bay. The western part of 
this locality is also known by the name of Hubbardtown, and 
here a small grist-mill has been established on a brook which 
empties just west of Southport Harbor. Red Creek has a 
school, and by the census of 1870 a population of forty-six. 
The bay and creeks are skirted by immense tracts of salt 
meadows. 

Squiretown, on Great Peconic Bay, one and a half miles 
southeast from here, and the same distance north of Good 
Ground, is a hamlet consisting of six farm-houses. The first 
settlement was made here about eighty years ago by one Ellis 
Squires, the ancestor of that numerous family whose repre- 
sentatives are so often met with in this part of the town. 
Here also the shore is lined with salt meadows, and in pre- 
revolutionary times the people of other parts of the town 
were wont to come and cut the grass for hay. For their 
accommodation while temporarily sojourning here during the 
haying season, they had erected a rude house, and it was in 
this house that Mr. Squires with a large family of children 
established themselves and began the settlement. 

Canoe Place is a village of fishermen, but little more than a 
mile east of Good Ground. It is on the northern extremity 
of that part of Shhmecock Bay which lies east of the penin- 
sula of Ponquogue. The place has an air of historical and 



322 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

scenic romance hovering about it, and teems with the associa- 
tions and legends of the dead past. Its site is among a 
group of low sandy hills, overlooking the bays north and 
south, and affording an unobstructed view of the bleak waste 
of Shinnecock hills on the east. The Indian name of the 
place is variously given by different authorities, as Merosuck, 
Niamuck, and Niamug. The land here is drawn up to a nar- 
row isthmus, less than half a mile in width, and the settlement 
is just on the west side of this contracted point. Across this 
narrow link the Indians used to haul their canoes from the 
Peconic to the Shinnecock and vice versa. Hence the pro- 
priety of the name. It has twenty-eight houses, an old 
established tavern, a store, and a small Congregational church. 
These are scattered among the sand hills which infest the 
vicinity. Canoe Place, like all the other hamlets which have 
been noticed under the head of Good Ground, is tributary to 
that place, and within the delivery of that post-office. 

The aggregate population of Good Ground with its tribu- 
tary settlements, excepting Red Creek, which has been given 
by itself, was by the census of 1870, five hundred and four. 

About half a mile east of Good Ground station the railroad 
passes through an old Indian burying-ground, which was also 
at an early period the site of a church belonging to the 
Shinnecock tribe. This ground is now grown over with 
bushes and trees, and bears no discernible evidence of the use 
to which it was once consecrated, except that within a little 
enclosure of weather-beaten picket fence a plain head-stone 
guards a single grave. This is but a few rods from the track, 
on the south side, and can be seen from the car window while 
passing by. It is the grave of the Eev. Paul Cuffee, a native 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 323 

preacher of the Shinnecock tribe, who is mentioned by the 
historians as a man of extraordinary eloquence and talent. 
Of parentage somewhat mixed with African blood he was 
born March 4th, 1757; reared as a servant in the family of 
Major Frederick Hudson, at Wading Biver; on reaching the 
years of maturity, having not long before been converted 
from a career of persistent recklessness to the Christian 
religion, he was constrained by the promptings of his own 
heart to engage in the work of preaching the gospel to his 
native brethren. During the last thirteen years of his life he 
was employed by the New York Missionary Society to labor 
among the tribes on the eastern part of Long Island; That 
Society after his death erected the marble slab which stands 
by his resting place. He died on the 7th of March, 1812. 

Shinnecock Bay is an irregular body of water, about ten 
miles in length, extending most of the way from Quogue to 
Southampton. It is separated from the ocean by a sand 
beach, through which inlets have at different times been 
opened at various points. The present one is nearly closed. 
This bay, and particularly the eastern part, has long been 
famous for the great numbers and excellent quality of its 
hard shell clams. During years gone by an immense business 
has been done in collecting and shipping these clams to all 
parts of the State and New England, where they have held 
the highest reputation in the markets. 

On the eastern confines of Canoe Place the waters on the 
north and on the south approach each other so close that 
we may see them both from the car windows as we pass across 
the narrow isthmus of Niamug. A tradition exists, to the 
effect that at some period in the misty recesses of the past, 



324 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

a canal #as opened across this narrow neck, connecting the 
waters of the Shkmecock with those of the Peconic. If it is 
true that such an enterprise was ever engineered by the 
savage natives, time or the hand of man has effaced all traces 
of it. The "Long Island Canal Co." was organized April 
15th, 1828, with a capital of $200,000, having for its object 
the connection of the bays along the south side of Long 
Island, by canals, and the opening through to Peconic Bay at 
this point. A survey was made, but nothing further done. 
April 8th, 1848, the "Long Island Canal and Navigation Co." 
was organized with a nominal capital of $300,000, designed to 
accomplish the same object, but as before without successful 
result. 

Having crossed this narrow link of earth, we find ourselves 
at once amid the barren hills of Shinnecock, reveling in their 
legends of dark tragedies, and associations of savage romance. 
Here we are told that the dare-devil traveler who challenged 
all the grim spirits of the infernal regions to deter him from 
crossing these hills on a dark and stormy night, many years 
ago, was soon after found lying dead by the road-side, without 
a mark of violence upon him except that his tongue was 
drawn out "by the roots" and hung on a neighboring bush. 
As his money was found untouched in his pockets, it was 
evident the mysterious deed had not been perpetrated for 
plunder, and as the peculiar nature of the wound seemed to 
forbid the supposition that human hands were responsible for 
the deed, its commission was ascribed directly to the fiends of 
darkness whose vengence the hapless traveler had defied. 

Upon the southern border of this rugged group, and over- 
looking the bay, Sugar Loaf Hill raises its bald peak above 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 325 

its lesser brothers. This hill rises abruptly from the shore of 
the bay to an elevation of considerable more than one hun- 
dred feet, being the highest point on the south side of the 
island, and the first land seen by the mariner when approach- 
ing this coast. 

These hills occupy the breadth of the peninsula as it 
widens, and extend from Canoe Place eastward about four 
miles. They were once the residence of that tribe of Indians 
whose name they bear. Huge piles of sand, they formed an 
almost impassible barrier, which divided the intercourse of 
civilization upon one side from that upon the other. This 
barrier is now pierced by the iron band over which the loco- 
motive trundles through these desolate hills, shrieking 
and panting like a frightened living thing, straining every 
nerve in its frantic haste to evade the ghosts of dusky savages 
whose soil it has desecrated and whose peaceful slumber its 
unearthly yells have disturbed. As we pass over the serpen- 
tine course which this railroad takes, the monotony of "fill " 
and "cut " is occasionally relieved by a pleasant glimpse of 
the slopes, the marshes, Peconic Bay, and the opposite shore. 
The undulating surface is a barren waste. Here and there 
a patch of some low growing shrub, and scattered blades of 
"poverty grass," are the only representatives of vegetation 
that dare venture an existence upon the hills. In the valleys 
and marshes some good pasturage for cattle is found. Graz- 
ing is the purpose to which this tract is appropriated. There 
are no trees here. Scarcely an apology for one is to be seen 
in the whole region. Nor do we see any evidence to support 
the conclusion that it ever was wooded, though it is possible 
that some parts of it were once productive of trees. 



326 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

On the 16th of August, 1703, in order to settle difficulties 
which were constantly rising between the Indians and the 
white people, and to establish more definitely the understand- 
ing of each with regard to the rights of the other, the people 
of this town through their trustees, re-purchased of the Indians 
the land they occupied, and at the same time gave them a lease 
on the Shinnecock tract, which included these hills with the 
neck of low-land adjoining on the southeast. This lease 
was given for a term of one thousand years, and the considera- 
tion which it specified was the payment of one ear of corn to 
the trustees, on the first day of November of each year. By 
its terms the Indians were allowed the privilege of plowing, 
planting, and cutting timber for fencing and fuel, also "to cut 
rings, bulrushes, and such grass as they usually make their 
mats and houses of, and to dig ground nuts;" the townspeople 
reserving ''meadows, marshes, grass, herbage, feeding and 
pasturage, timber, stone and convenient highways." By an 
Act which passed the State Legislature on the 15th of March, 
1859, the Indians were authorized to give their lease, by 
which they held these specified claims upon the whole terri- 
tory, in exchange for the absolute ownership of that portion 
known as Shinnecock Neck, which lies over on the southeast 
boundary of the hills. After the consummation of this 
arrangement the Hills were sold to a company of individuals, 
by whom it is still held in undivided shares. This sale was 
made at public auction, Feb. 19th, 1861. The territory thus 
enclosed in one common pasturage occupies about three thou- 
sand two hundred acres, and was sold for $6,250. 

The Indians that remain at the present day are considera- 
bly mixed with African blood. They are generally repre- 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 327 

sented as being a sober, industrious class of people. The 
savage arts are forgotten among them. They own their lands 
in common, and elect three trustees annually, by whom they 
are represented in real estate transactions. They are neither 
subject to taxation, nor admissible to the privilege of the 
ballot-box. They have a small Congregational church, and a 
good school, which is supported by the State. Their occupa- 
tions are principally farming in a small way, fishing, and "go- 
ing to sea." At present they number about one hundred. 
A Division of the Sons of Temperance, is supported by them, 
and numbers about fifty members. 

About two miles east of Shinnecock Hills, in the midst of a 
fertile plain lies the time honored village of Southampton. 
It is to-day what it has always been, a village of sober, indus- 
trious, well-to-do farmers. It boasts of no magnificent 
specimens of architecture, either public or private, but its 
churches, residences and stores are substantial and commodi- 
ous. From the railroad depot, seven and a quarter miles 
east of Good Ground, on the northern skirts of the village, 
the main street runs nearly south a distance of one and a half 
miles to the sea shore. The street is wide and level, and the 
dwellings so thick upon it that one naturally supposes he is in 
the midst of a commercial or manufacturing village, and is 
hardly able to realize the fact that it is simply a farming com- 
munity. The place contains six stores, two or three black- 
smith shops, two district schools, an academy, a post-office, a 
wind mill, several private boarding houses, and two churches. 
This village is the capital of Southampton town. The town 
elections are held here, and the polls are opened in the base- 
ment of the Presbyterian church. 



328 town oir Southampton. 

The first settlement of Europeans within the limits of this 
town was made here, in the month of June, 1640, by a com- 
pany from Lynn, Mass. The location of that primitive settle- 
ment was about half a mile east of the main village street, and 
the vicinity is now called "Old Town." The first church 
edifice was erected in the neighborhood, soon after the set- 
tlement was made, probably during the same or the following 
year. According to the best authority we can find, it was 
thatched with straw, and its exact Ijcation was on the corner 
of two roads, bounded on the east by what is now called Old 
Town Street, and north by a nameless highway. This, like 
most of the early churches of the island was probably congre- 
gational or independent in form, but as the religious ideas of 
the people developed and matured, the church adopted the 
Presbyterian title, and by that denomination the history of 
the early church is preserved. The precise period when the 
church was thus merged into the Presbyterian order is not 
known. 

At some indefinite period of time between the years 1650 
and 1670 a second church was erected by order of the town. 
The size of this church was twenty-four by thirty-two feet, 
and its location on the east side of Main Street, a short dis- 
tance below the present church. In 1695 a bell weighing one 
hundred and seventy-three pounds was imported from Lon- 
don and placed in this church. The first bell used in the 
Southampton church weighed fifty-four pounds, and had 
been returned to the English founders in part payment for 
this new one. The price of bells at that time was fourteen 
ponce a pound. [Soe Howell's History, p. 138-9.] 

In the year 1707 a larger and more pretentious church was 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 329 

built on the same side of Main Street, and on the corner of 
Meeting House Lane, opposite where the Presbyterian 
church now stands. This third edifice was the "tabernacle of 
God's house " during the dreary years of the revolution. It 
was reconstructed in 1821, and after the completion of the 
new church, in 1844 it passed into the hands of the Method- 
ists, who moved it to its present site, a little further up the 
street, and still occupy it. The present Presbyterian church 
was built in 1843 and is a commodious and respectable struc- 
ture. The Rev. Abraham Pierson was the first minister of 
this ancient church organization. He was installed over the 
little flock of six or eight members, before leaving Lynn. 

Among the curious relics of record preserved in the town 
clerk's office, illustrating the character, customs, and actions 
of the early inhabitants, we find the original copy of an 
agreement for pastoral services and their compensation, made 
between the Rev. John Harriman, third pastor of this church, 
and a committee appointed by the town for the purpose, 
dated June 1674. This document was written in a style of 
short hand, having a general appearance somewhat resem 
bling Pitman's system of phonography. It was preserved an 
unsolved mystery until two or three years ago, when it was 
translated into plain English long hand by J. Hammond 
Trumbull of Hartford, Conn. 

Southampton Academy stands on the corner of Main Street 
and Academy Lane, diagonally opposite the Presbyterian 
church. It is a plain building, two stories in height, of 
moderate proportions, and was built in 1831. In the summer 
of 1853 it was partially wrecked by a thunder bolt which 
struck it during a shower one morning. The steeple, chim- 



330 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

ney, floors and windows were badly shattered, but as the 
accident occurred at a time when there was no one in the 
building, no injury to human life was done. 

In this village there stands at the present day an ancient 
specimen of architecture, which we deem worthy of notice. 
It is in fact a rare curiosity. It is a large two story frame 
house, standing on a lot next north of the store of Josiah and 
Benjamin Foster, on the east side of Main Street. This 
house is without doubt the most ancient of any now standing 
in the village. It is supposed to have been built in the year 
1689 or somewhere about that time. We find no very substan- 
tial authority for this statement, but in the absence of any evi- 
dence to prove its inconsistency we accept it. It was built as 
tradition says, by a Frenchman, who strove to imitate the 
style of his native country, and in its day was no doubt 
considerably ahead of its associates, and a subject of much 
admiration. The lower parts of the windows are furnished 
with hinges at the sides, which allow them to swing open. 
Above these folding doors the space is filled by a stationary 
sash glazed with diamond shaped panes, and it may be that 
the same style of glazing originally filled the whole window. 
A projecting cornice runs along the front, above the windows 
of the lower story. The ponderous frame, racked and distorted 
by the jars of time, is covered with clapboards, held in place 
by huge nails, wrought on the anvil of some blacksmith whose 
labors have long since ended. Striking the fantastic wrought- 
iron latch, the great wide door swings back on its creaking 
hinges as it did in the days of forgotten long ago, when per- 
haps rustic maiden stood upon the threshold, and with 
beating heart and blushing face greeted the coming of her 



TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 331 

lover, or perhaps man of care and business was welcomed 
home from a journey of fatigue, to the bosom of his family, 
or friend or stranger mayhap found a shelter and a resting 
place from his wanderings, beneath the hospitable roof. 
Just within the portal the remnant of a horse-shoe nailed 
against the door-post reminds us of the superstitious precau- 
tions of former occupants. Up a winding flight of well worn 
steps, guarded by a clumsy hand-railing we pass to the fin- 
ished chambers above. These are large, and like the rooms 
below, the ceilings are remarkably high for a house of that 
olden time. During the revolution this house was occupied 
by the British quartermaster, and on the floor of one of the 
back rooms may still be seen the identical marks of the axe 
made in cutting up their meat. 

It is an item worthy of notice, that here, in a village of 
nine hundred and forty-three inhabitants, there is not a 
single open bar-room, No doubt there are intoxicating 
liquors bought, sold and used here, in a secret way and to a 
small extent, but the public frown seems invincibly set against 
the traffic, to such a degree as to prevent its being openly 
carried on. It is a happy thing that the descendants of 
Puritan ancestors have preserved so much of that jealous 
watch-care over the moral purity of their society, which 
characterized the early settlers of this old town. 

The oldest burying ground in the town was established on 
land in the rear of where the second church stood, and in 
thie, no doubt are interred the remains of the original settlers. 
This plot consisted of one acre of ground, which was set apart 
by the town for burial purposes previous to the year 1665. 
The oldest grave in this plot which is marked by any legible 



332 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

inscription is that of Rev. Joseph Taylor, the fifth minister of 
this town, who died April 4, 1682. Besides this there are 
quite a number bearing dates ranging through half a century 
from that date. This is now called the South End burying 
ground. In the upper part of the village, where the road 
from North Sea forms a junction with Main Street, is the 
principal depository of the dead now used. This was bought 
by the town trustees, of Caleb Heathcote, in 1712, and con- 
tains something less than four acres. It is called the 
North End burying ground. It contains several neat and 
substantial monuments. The first interment made here was 
the body of Joseph Post, in the year 1721. 

This village, like most all others situated upon the sea 
shore, receives a share of the patronage of boarders from the 
city, who delight in listening to the roar of " old ocean," or 
bathing in its troubled waters. 

North Sea was first settled by John Ogden, with six fami- 
lies in the year 1649. The settlement lies near Peconic Bay, 
about three miles north of the village of Southampton, to 
which it is a tributary. It is a thinly settled farming 
district, containing a population of one hundred and twelve. 
The land bordering the bay is cut into a confusion of irregu- 
lar necks, capes, and points, by the rambling intrusions of 
the water. Sebonac and Cow Necks separated by Bullhead 
Bay, lie on the west and north. In the vicinity is an old 
burying ground, and a district school. It was at this point 
where the original settlers of the town landed, when they 
first came to survey the wild and unpropitious field upon 
which they were to establish the foundations of future pros- 
perity and civilization. In the woods about half a mile south 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 333 

of tliis settlement are two pretty lakes of fresh water, still 
retaining the romantic Indian names of Agawam and Minne- 
sunk, the former lying a little distance east of the Southamp- 
ton road, and the latter, a much larger one, nearly the same 
distance to the west. 

At Watermill we find an interesting little village of about 
thirty houses, situated on the road between Southampton and 
Bridgehampton, about two miles from the former and three 
miles from the latter place. This vicinage was formerly 
called Mill Neck, and lies on the north of Mecox Bay, em- 
braced by two arms from that body of water. It has two 
grist-mills, oue driven by wind, the other by water power, also 
a school, store, post-office, hotel and carriage shop. It is loca- 
ted in the midst of a rich agricultural district. The Branch 
Bailroad passes within sight, just north of it, but has no 
stopping place here. A chain of ponds commence in the 
interior, about a mile back of this place, and after supplying 
power to the grist-mill discharge into Mecox Bay. This mill 
was established in 1644. The town constructed the dam, 
furnished the stones, and granted a forty-acie lot adjoining to 
the miller. 

Wickapogue is a scattered neighborhood, lying between 
here and the ocean, near the west end of Mecox Bay. A 
burying ground was established in this locality, by the town, 
in 1686. 

On the Branch Bailroad, five and a' quarter miles east of 
Southampton brings you to the depot of Bridgehampton. 
Taking the road from this point first south, then east, a good 
round half mile takes you to the vital centre of this extensive 
region. This centre was once called Bull's Head, and the 



334 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

name is used to some extent at the present time, but the 
refined spirit of the day has nearly abolished the frightful 
appellation. Three large county stores, a hotel, windmill, 
burying ground, the Presbyterian church, an academy, a 
district school, and several shops are located nearly within 
a stone's throw at this focal centre. These are near a point 
where the main south road, from Montauk Point to Brooklyn 
is intersected by cross roads from the north side, Sag Harbor, 
and the ocean. 

The Presbyterian church is a noble building, of splendid 
proportions, and occupies a site on a beautifully sloping lawn. 
It was erected in 1842, during the pastorate of Rev. Amizi 
Francis, the fourth minister who had been installed over this 
congregation, since the organization of the church, one hun- 
dred years previous. The first church erected in this 
parish was on the west side of Sagg Pond, about one mile 
southeast of here, built near the close of the seventeenth 
century, and superseded in 1737 by another, located part of 
the way between the first and third sites. The second stood 
one hundred and five years, until the erection of the present 
one. Adjoining this church on the east is the village burying 
ground containing several handsome marble and brown stone 
monuments. 

About two furlongs west of the village centre stands the 
Methodist Episcopal church. This was originally built in 
1833, on a lot near the Presbyterian church, between the 
Atlantic House and the residence of Mr. David Hallock. In 
1871 it was removed to its present site, and enlarged and 
re-modeled in better accord with modernized ideas. This 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 335 

church society was organized and the first house of worship 
built in 1820. 

A little southeast of this, on the road to Sagg, is the agri- 
cultural machine shop of C. H. Topping, a self-taught, but 
successful mechanic and manufacturer. He established the 
business here in 1862. Besides making repairs on all kinds 
of agricultural machinery he manufactures ten or twelve horse 
powers every year. The machinery contained in the shop is 
driven by a six-horse-power steam engine assisted now and 
then, when the elements are favorable and circumstances 
demand it, by a Hubbard patent horizontal wind-mill con- 
nected with the shop. 

The parish of Bridgehampton occupies the southeast part 
of the town of Southampton. It extends over an area of four 
or five miles square, and its inhabitants, numbering thirteen 
hundred and thirty-four, are scattered hither and thither over 
the broad level plain. The land is divided into large, well- 
cultivated and productive farms. The highways are very 
broad and "airy." It is divided into several vicinages having 
local names, but all included under the general title. In the 
extreme southeast corner of the town is an ancient settlement 
called Sagg, settled in 1670, located principally on the east 
side of Sagg Pond, near the ocean, and about one and a half 
miles from ''Bull's Head." It contains a school, a wind saw- 
mill and perhaps twenty-five houses. This was settled within 
a few years after the first settlement of the town, and at that 
time was called Sagabonack. In one of the ancient grave 
yards of this place we find stones dating back to the early 



336 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

part of the eight aenth century, on one of which is the 
following eccentric but expressive epitaph : 

"My sun is set, 

My glass is run, 
My Candle's out, 

My work is done." 

Sagg Pond is a narrow sheet of water about one mile in 
length, the south end of which is separated from the ocean 
by the usual border of sand beach. West of this pond, and 
between it and Mecox Bay, is the district of Mecox, settled 
in 1679, having some twenty houses or more scattered over a 
territory of two miles in length lying between Bridgehampton 
centre and the ocean. In this vicinity is also an ancient 
burying ground, the oldest inscription in which bears date 
1681. 

Hay Ground is a vicinage, northwest of the latter, and 
about two miles west of the churches, containing fifteen or 
twenty houses, a school, wind-mill, store and grave yard. 
These are located on the south side of and near the railroad 
track. Killis Pond is a pretty little lake in this neighborhood, 
lying south of the main road. It was named in honor of an 
Indian who lived and died upon its banks, many years ago. 

Scuttle Hole, containing twenty-five houses, lies from one 
to two miles distant from "Bull's Head," in a northwest 
direction. It is a rich and pleasant farming neighborhood, 
and contains a district school. 

On the main road, about a mile east of the centre of this 
parish [Bridgehampton] is a vicinity called Poxabogue, sur- 
rounding a pond of fresh water. This is on the crossing of 
the road from Sagg to Sag Harbor, and just before we strike 
into the wilderness of forest and sand which lies between here 



TOWN OF TOUTHAMPTON. 337 

and the village of Eastliampton, The old town poor house 
was located here. The road which crosses here from north 
to south is called Sagg Street, and it runs from Sag Harbor to 
the ocean. The hamlet of Sac:g is built upon it, near the sea 
shore terminus. The road was opened at an early period, to 
accommodate the travel from the landing on the bay to this 
settlement. In consequence of this connection, that landing 
place received the name of Sag Harbor, long before it had 
been thought of as a prospective village site. 



Sag Harbor is the eastern terminus of the south branch of 
the Long Island Eailroad, which leaves the main line at 
Manor Station. It is located in the very northeast corner of 
this town [Southampton] one hundred miles from New York. 
A part of the village lies over the line, in the town of East- 
liampton. This is the largest village in Suffolk County, and 
one of the most handsome. It contains a population of about 
twenty-six hundred ; also six churches, two newspaper offices^ 
a flourishing public school, a large cotton factory, a morocco 
factory, two hotels, a score of large stores, and a variety of 
shops and offices too numerous to particularize. Main Street, 
the principal thoroughfare is lined for nearly half a mile with 
offices, shops and stores, including a number of large brick 
buildings of three of four stories in height which are devoted 
to business purposes. At the foot of this street, in the 
northern part of the village is the railroad depot, and Long 
Wharf, the only important landing for vessels in the harbor. 
In this vicinity are several large wooden buildings erected for 
storehouses to accommodate the whale fishery business of 
years ago, but since the failure of that enterprise devoted to 
other purposes or lying idle. A steamboat line plies between 



838 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

here and New York city, running through the sound, and 
another between here and New London and the mouth of 
Connecticut Eiver. The mails for this village, and in fact, 
for all the villages on the peninsula east of Shinnecock Hills, 
are brought by the Long Island Railroad to Greenport and 
from there transported across by sail-boat ferries to this point. 
To a stranger it will appear at first as a matter of surprise 
that the post-offices of this town are not served with the mails 
by the railroad which passes near them and terminates at this 
village. The explanation of the subject is that the manager 
of the railroad refuses to accept the terms offered by the 
Department, so no mails have as yet been carried over this 
branch. Considering the liberality with which the people of 
this town supported its construction, as shown by their free 
gift of the right of way through tne whole length of the town, 
and the construction at their own expense of the depot build- 
ings along the line, it would have been no more than a gen 
tlemanly return of favors had the manager of the road allowed 
the mails to be carried over it, even at a small sacrifice of his 
own immediate profits if necessary. It is to be hoped that at 
some day not far distant the injured people of Southampton 
town may enjoy relief from the railroad impositions to which 
they are now subjected, either by the coming of a new rail- 
road or by the inauguration of a more liberal policy in the 
management of the present one. 

There is an air of quiet grandeur and unpretentious beauty 
about this village, scarcely seen in any other in the county. 
Though living amid the busy scenes of the present, it clings 
to the phantom of the past. To Sag Harbor the realization 
of the past is brighter than the anticipation of the future. 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. odd 

The whale-fishery of years ago was the great propelling ele- 
ment which buiit the village up, and though the palmy days 
of that enterprise has long since passed away they have left 
enduring foot-prints to remind us of its former importance. 
These dingy old storehouses and cooperages that stand down 
by the wharf meditating upon the scenes of by-gone years; 
these great blocks of brick buildings which line the business 
streets; these magnificent churches; these princely residences; 
these beautiful shade trees, and gas lighted streets, and flag- 
ged sidewalks; even these superannuated whaling captains 
whose silvered locks and time-scarred faces you meet at every 
turn, are all monuments of that day of prosperity whose glory 
has faded and gone. Still we think Sag Harbor may keep its 
place in the foremost ranks of Long Island villages. Though 
its position is somewhat isolated it possesses advantages which 
are not to be overlooked. Having a good harbor, and ready 
communication by land or by water with New York and 
various important points in New England, it. may flourish in 
the future as a manufacturing village, or as a popular summer 
resort for pleasure seekers. One thing which at present we 
think retards its progress in the latter direction is the lack of 
hotel accommodations. In many respects Nature has blessed 
it with superior attractions. If you wish for beautiful sailing 
or rowing, with an endless variety of scenery, this harbor 
with its contiguous bays, harbors, creeks and coves, presents 
a field that for extent, diversity and beauty is hardly surpassed 
by any other within as convenient distance of the great me- 
tropolis, if within the limits of the Union. If you delight 
in fine fishing, here it is in these same waters. If you want 
[leasanb (lii*vs, these shady streets are all that heart could 



34.0 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

wish. If you want delightful walks, you will find them here, 
beneath the cool shade of these grand old maples, sycamores 
and elms, whose thick spreading branches hang far over the 
wide walks. 

The first attempt at making a settlement in this neighbor- 
hood appears to have been about the year 1730, when a few 
fishermen erected small cottages near the present foot of Main 
Street. The growth of the village from that time until after 
the revolution was slow. A Presbyterian church was erected 
here in 1767, or about that year. The congregation at that 
time however appears to have been so small that it was neces- 
sary to solicit aid from the people of the neighboring villages 
for the erection of this first house of -worship. For many 
years after its completion no regular minister was supported 
in it, but services were conducted by members of the congre- 
gation, and the people assembled on the S ibbath by the beat 
of the drum. The church society worshiping in this house 
was organized ^n 1791 on the Congregational order, and so 
continued till 1810, when it united with the L. I. Presbytery. 

But little progress had been made in the great whaling en- 
terprise when the war of the revolution for the time being 
put a stop to it altogether. Cruising for whales along the 
shore in small boats had been practiced almost from the first 
settlement of the town, and during later years a few small 
sloops had been fitted out upon short voyages from this port. 
In this early stage of the business, whenever a whale was cap- 
tured it became necessary to return ashore for the purpose of 
boiling out the oil. After the return of peace the whale-fish- 
ery from this port was revived on a more extensive and suc- 
cessful scale. In 1785, a vessel owned by Col. Benjamin 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 341 

Huntting and Capt. Stephen Howell, was sent as an experi- 
ment to a more southern lattitude, and by her success laid the 
foundation for a more extensive prosecution of the business. 
From this time the business which characterized and built 
up the village began to increase with rapid strides, and con- 
tinued until about the year 1845, when it seems to have 
reached its zenith of prosperity, and soon after that began to 
decline. Its uniform progress was of course temporarily 
checked by the difficulties with England which culminated in 
the war of 1S12, r 13 and '14. In 1807 there were four ships 
owned and fitted out from this port in the whaling business. 
This number does not seem to have been increased until after 
the war, when the business was renewed with greater energy 
than before. The number of vessels engaged in the enter- 
prise from this port, at different periods were as follows: in 
1832, 20; in 1838, 29; in 1841, 41; in 1843, 52; in 1845, 61: in 
1847, 63. It is estimated that Sag Harbor was more exten- 
sively engaged in the whale-fishery than all the rest of New 
York State combined. During the height of its success it 
employed a capital of nearly two million dollars, and furnish- 
ed an occupation to about eight hundred men and boys. Tho 
aggregate tonnage of vessels employed in the business from 
this port during the year 1838 is estimated at 11,700, being an 
average of over four hundred tons to each vessel. In the 
year 1837 there were twenty-three arrivals, bringing horns 31,- 
784 barrels of oil, 8,634 barrels of sperm, and 236,757 pounds 
of whalebone. The total products of the business up to that 
date from the time of its revival after the revolution were 
about 350,000 barrels of oil, 40,504 barrels of sperm, and 
1,506,765 pounds of whalebone. The cooper-shops of this 



342 TOWN OS SOUTHAMPTON. 

village in those days manufactured oil casks to tlie extent of 
25,000 barrels a year, to supply the demand which that 
immense business created. In 1845 the population of Sag 
Harbor numbered 3,621. The whaling business, once so 
flourishing, has been gradually losing ground until at the 
present time it scarcely has a name. There are however two 
ships from this port engaged in the business at the present 
time. The cause of this great decline in the success of the 
enterprise is the scarcity of w r hales and the greater difficulty 
in capturing them, which has been brought about by the re- 
lentless prosecution of the enterprise in former years. 

While the British held possession of the island during the 
revolution, this village was garrisoned by a smart detachment 
of soldiers, and made a depot for military supplies and forage. 
A number of ships were also stationed in the bay, some of 
them heavily armed and manned for defense. In May, 1777 
a daring and brilliantly successful raid upon the British 
works and stores at this point was made by a body of Conti- 
nental soldiers under the command of Col. Meigs, in which 
twelve vessels, and a large quantity of hay, grain, provisions 
and merchandise was destroyed, and a number of prisoners 
taken, without the loss of a single man. Fuller particulars of 
this expedition are given in another chapter. 

During the war commonly known as the "war of 1812," 
considerable alarm was excited in regard to the safety of this 
village, and a detachment of militia was stationed here to de- 
fend it against an expected attack. In 1813 a British fleet 
under command of Commodore Hardy occupied Gardiner's 
Bay, and in June of that year an attempt was made to destroy 
the shipping in this harbor and perhaps to plunder the village. 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 343 

To accomplish this a launch and two barges with one hundred 
men approached the village by night, and landed on the 
wharf. An alarm was immediately given, and the guns of a 
small fort occupied by the militia were turned upon them. 
This fire became at once too hot to be faced with impunity, 
and the assailants retired with all possible expedition after hav- 
ing set fire to a single sloop. In their disorderly retreat they left 
a number of guns, swords, and other arms behind them. The 
fire they had started was quickly put out, before much dam- 
age was done, and thus ended the abortive exploit in which 
the surprisers became the surprised. 

Besides the restraining influence of war, with which the 
improvement and prosperity of this village has had to con- 
tend, its uniform growth has been interrupted by the ravages 
of two destructive fires. The first of these occurred on the 
26th of May, 1817, and laid the most valuable part of the 
village in ashes. The energetic spirit of the people, however, 
encouraged by the propitious smiles which were then beam- 
ing upon them through the success of the whale-fisheries, 
soon rebuilt the waste places and healed the breach made by 
the devouring flames. Again, on the night d! November 13, 
1845, the village was scourged by a most desolating conflagra- 
tion. This, likewise, laid its course through the most valua- 
ble and compact portions of the village, sweeping stores and 
warehouses by the dozen, with the greater port of their valu- 
able contents, and even extending to some of the shipping in 
the harbor. Fifty-seven warehouses and stores, thirty-live 
dwelling houses, and a large number of stables, barns and other 
buildings were destroyed before the progress of the flames 
could be arrested. The district thus laid in ruins was again 



344 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

rebuilt, with larger and more substantial structures than be- 
fore, and the wheel of progress rolled on. 

Sag Harbor was incorporated as a fire district in 1803, and 
as a village in 1846. The Fire Department at present con- 
sists of two engine companies, the " Minnehaha," No. 1, and 
the "Torrent," No. 3; each having an engine and about 
thirty members; the "Gazelle" hose company, of thirty 
members, and the " Phoenix" hook and ladder company with 
twenty members. A third fire engine company [No. 2] was 
disbanded several years ago. A number of large wells dis- 
tributed about the village, have been settled by the corpora- 
tion, for the convenience of obtaining water in times of fiery 
emergency. These wells are about fifteen feet across the 
bottom, and the sides taper inward as they rise. Water is 
drawn from them by the proverbial old " town pump." The 
by-laws of the village also require that the owner of every 
dwelling house or store shall provide for each an India-rubber 
or leathern bucket, of at least two gallons capacity, marked 
with the owner's name or initials, to be kept in a convenient 
place in such store or dwelling house, where it may be in 
readiness for use at any alarm of fire. These arrangements, 
together with the facilities at the Maidstone Mills, and the 
Cotton Mills, for throwing water in their immediate neigh- 
borhood make this village pretty thoroughly fortified against 
the contingency of fire. Had it not been for the organized 
fire companies and their engines, which were in active opera- 
tion at the time of either of the two conflagrations of Sag 
Harbor, no one knows whether the ravages of the fire-fiend 
could have been stayed before every vestige of a building 
within its reach had been swept out of existence. There are 



TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 345 

in this county to-day near a score 01 large villages, composed 
mainly of frame buildings, so compactly set that fire if 
started under ordinarily favorable conditions would make as 
great havoc as it did here ; and yet no provision whatever is 
made for protection against such a calamity, to the liability 
of which they are almost daily exposed. It would be -wisdom 
in the people of these unprotected villages to learn a lesson 
from the painful and costly experiences of Sag Harbor, and 
give this matter their early attention. 

Daring the early part of the present century this village 
was engaged to some extent in the cod-fishery. Thompson 
quotes from the Suffolk Gazette the substance of an item to the 
effect that during the year 1807, G,600 quintals of cod-fish 
were taken by vessels from here, and brought into port. The 
manufacture of salt by the solar evaporation of sea water was 
also undertaken and carried on to some extent, but did not 
continue a permanent success. During later years the Alosa 
menhaden, or "bunker" fisheries in the waters adjoining, 
have occupied considerable attention. Several factories for 
the manufacture of "guano" and oil from these fish have 
been established in the neighborhood of this village, but for 
sanitary reasons they are obliged to maintain a respectable 
distance. The manufacture of clocks was at one time exten- 
sively carried on here. Other manufactures have at one time 
or another been engaged in to a considerable extent. 

The Sag Harbor Steam Cotton Mills, the most conspicuous 
and important institution of a business character, stands near 
the centre of the village, fronting on Washington Street, near 
its junction with Division; and the busy hum of its machinery 
may be heard all over the village. This noble edifice is two 



346 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

hundred feet long, by fifty-five feet wide, and it has four 
floors, covering in the aggregate a space of forty-four thou- 
sand square feet, all rilled with machinery for the manufacture 
of various kinds of cotton goods. The basement story is of 
granite, the walls of which are three feet thick and fourteen 
feet high. The upper stories are of hard brick, laid in 
cement, and are in respective order from the bottom, fifteen 
feet, fouiteen feet six inches, and ten feet high; making a 
total height of walls, from basement floor to roof, of fifty- 
three feet six inches. The mill has in front, a double tower, 
hirty-two feet wide and eighty feet high, standing out near 
the centre. In front of this, a double flight of solid stone 
steps lead to the main entrance. The tower contains a fine 
toned bell, weighing one thousand four hundred pounds, 
which is rung at stated hours through the day and night. The 
working machinery consists principally of forty-eight cards, 
nine thousand spindles, and two hundred looms. The picker 
room is in the basement, and is eighty feet long by thirty feet 
wide. Adjoining this is the engine room, containing four 
arge boilers, and a 230-horse-power engine, which drives the 
machinery of the mill. Three different kinds of loom are 
used, varying in their capacity from thirty-six to fifty-two 
yards each per day. It is interesting to note the accuracy, 
and the speed with which this great bedlam of machinery 
does its work. Here, for instance, are nine thousand spindles, 
each buzzing round six thousand times every minute, and 
altogether spinning out some fourteen thousand miles of yarn 
a day. About one hundred and seventy operatives are em- 
ployed in the mill, and some two million yards of fabric 
annually manufactured. The office of the factory is in a de- 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. ' 347 

tached building, standing a few rods from it, upon the same 
lot. The establishment is heated by steam, conducted through 
pipes to all parts of the factory and the office. The whole 
concern is lighted by gas, manufactured on the premises. 
The precautionary and defensive arrangements against loss 
of life or property by fire are complete. One rotary force 
pump in the mill is capable of throwing one thousand gallons 
of water a minute through three hundred feet of hose, and a 
special steam fire pump lately put in operation throws three 
hundred gallons a minute. Both these connect with a well on 
the premises, twenty feet in diameter, which is supplied by an 
inexhaustible spring. To guard against fire in the picker 
room, where the danger is greater than in any other part of 
the building, the room is made perfectly fire-proof, by having 
brick walls, brick floor, and iron ceiling over-head; and in 
addition a pipe directly from the boiler connects with the 
room; so a huge jet of steam could at any time be turned into 
it, which would be sufficient to smother any amount of fire 
within two minutes time. The factory was first established 
by a joint stock company composed chiefly of citizens of 
Southampton town . About seven years ago it passed into the 
hands of a New England manufacturer, Mr. C. C. Loomis, 
under whose able management it has enjoyed more uniform 
success, and at the present time is profitably conducted. The 
establishment as it stands, with all its appurtenances and 
equipments is valued by the present proprietor at $350,000. 
The first cost of the building was estimated at $130,000. 

The business of leather currying was started here in 18M, 
by Abel C, Buckley, and is still continued by his successor, 
Samuel N. Davis, whose annual rales of finished leather 



348 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

amount to about $18,000. The manufacture of morocco has 
recently been started on an extensive scale in a large building 
which stands in the southern suburbs of the village, and was 
once used as a clock factory. J. Freudenthal's Segar manu- 
factory employs about seventy five hands, turning out goods 
to the value of one hundred thousand dollars per annum. 

The Maidstone Flouring Mill, the largest establishment of 
its kind in the county, stands in the northern part of the 
village, near Long Wharf. The building is 80 by 34 feet, 
and has three floors. It; was originally intended for a cooper- 
age, and was fitted up for the present use in 1862. Thous- 
ands of bushels of grain are stored in bulk upon its upper 
floors. It has five "run" of stone, with a capacity of one 
hundred barrels of flour a day. The machinery is driven 
by a sixty-five-horse-power steam engine. 

Sag Harbor is lighted with gas — in the night, that is. The 
gas works are located in the northwestern part of the village, 
near the railroad depot. The gas is made from rosin, and 
supplied at $8 a thouand feet. At this price it is said to be 
cheaper than the gas in New York city at a nominal price 
of $3 a thousand. The difference is supposed to be mainly 
in the measurement. The principal streets are lighted with 
gas until 12 o'clock at night, at the expense of the corpora- 
tion. The corporation, however, does not propose to set up 
opposition to the Moon; so when that luminary shines out 
full and clear the street lamps are allowed to hold their peace 
and save their ammunition. 

The Sag Harbor Savings Bank was chartered April 12, 
I860, and opened for business on the 7th of June, the same 
vear. J. Madison Huntting, of East Hampton, was its first 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 349 

President. He died in February 1868, and his place was 
filled by Josiah Douglass of this village, who was also re-* 
moved by death Feb. 5, 1869. Hon. H. P. Hedges of Bridge- 
hampton was elected to the vacancy, and still continues in the 
office. The business of the bank since 1864 has been under 
the care of Wickham 8. Havens, Esq. On the 31st of Octo- 
ber, 1862, the bank was robbed of treasure to the amount of 
$14,000, of which only §2,600 was recovered. The stolen 
funds were in Coupon Bonds and Treasury notes, temporarily 
deposited for safe keeping with the Suffolk County Bank 
which was then doing business in this village. The final 
result of the loss was a discount of 10 per cent, on all deposits 
in the bank at the time. On the first of January, 1872. its 
complete assets amounted to 8219,071.22, and its total liabili- 
ties, being the amount due depositors, $205,697.73, leaving a 
balance of assets amounting to $13,973.49. 

The first newspaper established on Long Island was started 
in this village by David Frothingham, on the 10th of May, 
1791. It was called the Long Island Herald. In June, 1802, 
it was sold to Sellick Osborn, and its name changed to the 
Suffolk County Herald. In February, 1804, it was transferred 
to Alden Spooner, and its name again changed to the Suffolk 
Gazette, under which title and management it continued until 
its suspension in April, 1811. 

The Suffolk County Recorder was first issued in Oct. 1816, 
by Samuel A. Seabury. In 1817 its name was changed to the 
American Eagle ; and in 1819 its publication was suspended 
until 1821, when it was revived at Huntington. 

The Corrector was established August 3, 1822, by H. W. 
Hunt. It is now the oldest living newspaper in Suffolk 



350 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

county, but still up with the times, both in regard to its 
editorial management and its artistic appearance. Its present 
proprietor is the Hon. B. D. Sleight, into whose hands the 
paper was transferred in 1859. 

The Republican Watchman was started in this village by 
Samuel Phillips, in September, 1826. In September 1844 it 
was moved to Greenport, where it is now published. 

The Sag Harbor Express was commenced in 1859, by John 
II. Hunt, who had previously been connected with the Cor- 
rector, and whose father had been its founder. The Express 
is a healthy looking sheet, and still continues to flourish un- 
der its original management. 

The Password, a weekly journal devoted to the interests of 
Masonic and Temperance organizations was published a few 
months in 1871, by George Latham. 

The Suffolk County Sabbath School Journal, a small sheet 
containing reports of the meetings of the Suffolk. Co. Sabbath 
School Convention, after being issued quarterly for a few 
years has been discontinued. 

Oakland Cemetery is one of the oldest and finest in the 
county. It lies one mile south of the business centre of the 
village, in an appropriately retired locality. It was organized 
and incorporated under the general law of the State, and 
opened for burial purposes in 18-10. The original plot was 
purchased of Lewis, Nathan P., and Harriet Howell. Since 
that time it has been added to, until it now covers eight 
acres, and is being again enlarged. Its name is appropriate 
to the fact of its being located in the midst of an oak forest, 
and the greater part of it is shaded by these trees. It is laid 
out with avenues twenty feet wide running parallel with each 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 351 

other and alternating with two courses of lots, each twenty- 
four feet square and joining each other at the sides, with the 
exception of where an occasional walk crosses between. The 
street front of the ground is protected by an iron fence. The 
fencing of the lots is rather monotonous, consisting mostly of 
a neat wooden rail supported by posts about two feet high. 
There are however some nice iron enclosures. It contains 
many elegant and costly family monuments, and two family 
vaults. A few of the monuments have carved on them 
the family coat of arms ; relics of ancestral nobility 
fittingly preserved. As in the village of the living, you will 
also find in this village of its dead the frequent reminders of 
that former enterprise, the whale-fishery, in which many of 
those who have found a resting place here were engaged, or 
perhaps lost their lives. One of the most interesting objects 
here presented to the visitor is the "Whaler's Monument," 
one of the largest, and perhaps the most expensive one in the 
cemetery. This stands in the central part, and its dimensions 
are about as follows : — foundation, seven feet square; base, 
five feet square ; die, four feet square ; cap, four feet, 
eight inches square ; total height, eighteen feet. The shaft, 
representing a ship's mast, broken and shattered at the top is 
about ten feet high, above the cap, and two feet in diameter. 
Around the bottom of it is a coil of heavy rigging, about the 
size of a ship's hawser. The stranded end of this hangs over 
the edge of the cap. On the face of this edge is carved a 
harpoon and a lance, laid across each other. Directly below, 
on the west side of the die, is a carved picture representing a 
scene on the ocean, in which a sperni whale has struck and 
wrecked a whale-boat loaded with men. A part of the boat is 



352 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON* 

floating bottom upw;ird£j, and upon it three men are clinging, 
holding the dead body of a fourth, while two others are 
buffeting the waves and struggling to reach it. Near by, a 
school of whales are blowing and plunging, and another 
boat-load of men are coming to the rescue of their comrades. 
Two ships are lying in the back-ground. The representation 
occupies a space about three feet square. The carving is 
very fine ; every feature of the men, and their clothing 
the drifting oars, the sea-foam, the clouds in the distance, 
and every minute particular of the sketch being accurately 
defined. So beautiful and impressive is the delineation of the 
scene that as we gaze upon it we can almost imagine we hear 
the plashing of the waves and the distressed voices of the 
men as they face death upon the bosom of the mighty deep. 
The monument contains the names of the following ship- 
masters, with the date of their death, age, and name of the 
ship to which each belonged, which items we condense as 
follows : 
John E. Howell ; July 23, 1840 ; 27 ; "France." 
Charles W. Payne ; Jan. 4, 1838 ; 29 ; "Fanny." 
Stratton H. Harlow ; Oct. 31, 1838 ; 26 ; "Daniel Webster." 
Alfred C. Glover ; Jan. 14, 1836 ; 28 ; "Acasta." 
Eichard S. Topping ; Feb. 1, 1838 ; 28 ; "Thorn." 
William H. Pierson ; June 4, 1846 ; 29 ; "American." 
It will be noticed that of the whole six, neither had reached 
the age of thirty years. The east side of the die contains the 
following memorial. "To commemorate that noble enter- 
prise, the Whale Fishery ; and a tribute of lasting respect to 
those bold and enterprising Ship Masters, sons of South- 
ampton, who periled their lives in a daring profession, and 



TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 353 

perished in actual encounter with the monsters of the deep. 
Entombed in the ocean they live in our memory." This 
monument was erected in 1856, by Nathan P., Gilbert, and 
Augustus Howell, bi others of the one whose name stands at 
the head of the above list." On the same lot stands the Howell 
family monument, containing the inscriptions of sixteen mem- 
bers of the family. From this we learn that Stephen Howell, 
Sen., the ancestor of this family was "A native of Southamp- 
ton, L. I., born Oct. 23, 1744, and died January 18, 1828. 
An American Whig, he took an early and decided stand for 
his country at the commencement of the revolutionary war. 
He entered the army as a soldier in the battle of Long Island, 
Aug. 26, 1776. He shared the suffering and honor of that 
gloomy day in the successful and memorable retreat of the 
American Army under General Washington in the face of an 
overwhelming and victorious army, and to the end of the 
Revolutionary struggle was identified with the American 
cause. Returning peace found him among the first to revive 
the prostrate enterprise of the country. He engaged in the 
Whale Fishery from this port in 1785, and was one of the 
ounders of that extensive and successful business which for a 
long period characterized and distinguished his native town." 
The old village burying ground is located on the east side 
of Madison Street, adjoining the Presbyterian church lot, 
which forms the rear boundary. It occupies about two acres, 
and has several hundred graves in it, though the remains of 
many once interred here have been removed to Oakland 
Cemetery. The plot is on a hill, commanding a fine view of 
the village and the harbor. The proposition of transferring 
the remaining graves to the cemeterv, and converting this 



354 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

ground into a village park has for some time been tinder con- 
sideration. 

Near this, on Union Street (which crosses Madison at right 
angles) stands the old "Arsenal" building. This is a grim 
looking brick structure, about the size of an ordinary barn, 
placed here during the war of 1812, and used at that time as 
a store-house for munitions of war. It now belongs to the 
United States Government, and is used occasionally as a stor- 
age for wrecked property or merchandise brought from the 
sea shore. 

On the east side of Main Street, in the southern outskirts 
of the village is a small body of water, lying in a deep basin, 
c.illed Otter Pond. Its name is derived from the fact that in 
former days those animals used to inhabit its shores in great 
numbers. This pond is one of a succession of ponds and 
marshes which extends across the town, with short intervals 
between them, from here to Sagg Pond, near the ocean. 
About the commencement of the present century this pond 
was occupied as a mill site : and in order to increase the sup- 
ply of water, the owner of the mill connected two other 
ponds with it, by a canal nearly a mile long. About the same 
time the owner of a mill on the other end of this line of 
ponds opened a connection between some of them until the 
central one was tapped from both directions, and the flow to 
the north was completely cut off. From some cause or an- 
other which we are not able to explain to our own satisfaction, 
the water of these ponds has been diminishing for many 
years, and both the mill sites once supplied by them have long 
since been abandoned. After the removal of the mill from 
Otter Pond a channel was opened from it to the "Cove " which 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 355 

extends from Peconic Bay along the west side of the village 
to within a short distance of this pond. Since that time it 
has been the resort of great numbers of fish and eels. Prime 
estimates that many years ago, when the pond was stocked 
with streaked bass, the produce in a single winter amounted 
to more than fifteen hundred dollars in value. It is still 
noted for its eels, though they are not found in as great num- 
bers as they formerly were. 

Legonee Brook, which forms the southwest boundary of 
the corporation limits, empties into the " Cove " a short dis- 
tance beyond this. 

As we have before stated, the first church erected in Sag 
Harbor was built about the year 1767, and continued in use 
until the year 1817, when it was pulled down and another one 
erected in its place. The materials first procured for the con- 
struction of the new church were all destroyed by the great 
fire of that year, but the people were at once " up and doing,' 
and the second church of the Presbyterians was completed in 
June of the following year. This stands upon the corner of 
Sage and Church Streets, and since the removal of the Presby- 
terian congregation to their present quarters it has been pur- 
chased and occupied by the Episcopal denomination. Its 
belfry contains a "town clock." The present Presbyterian 
church was commenced in 1843, and dedicated May 16th, 1844. 
This is the largest and grandest church edifice in Suffolk Co. , 
and cost at the time of its erection upwards of $25,000. It is 
safely estimated that to build it now would cost over $40,000. 
The steeple is one hundred and eighty feet high; and is 
accessible by steps which go up inside to within ten feet of 
the top. A delightful view of the surrounding country may 



356 town of Southampton. 

"be obtained from this elevated point. The bell-room contains 
a sixteen hundred pound bell. The auditory, including the 
galleries, will seat a thousand persons. The organ-loft con- 
tains an elegant pipe organ recently re-built by Earle & Brad- 
ley, of Eiverhead, and now valued at 82,500. 

A Methodist Episcopal church was erected here in 1809. 
This was afterward sold to the Roman Catholics. The present 
M. E. church was built in 1837, in the eastern part of the 
village, upon a pleasant elevation called Sleight's Hill. In 
1861 it was taken down and rebuilt upon its present site, on 
Madison Street, in the central part of the village. It is a 
building of magnificent dimensions. The tower is furnished 
with a clock and bell. 

The Baptist church, upon the same street, is a plain but 
commodious building, and was placed here in 1844. 

The chief corner stone of St. Andrew's Roman Catholic 
church was laid amid imposing ceremonies on Sunday, June 
16th, 1872. This large and handsome structure has been 
completed and was dedicated a few months since. It stands 
on a lot facing on Division, Sage, and Union Streets. 

The colored people have a small but well regulated and suc- 
cessful church organization called Zion Methodist. Their 
house of worship, erected in 1840, stands in the southeastern 
suburbs, called Eastville, formerly Snooksville. 

An Academy was erected in this village in 1845. It was 
destroyed by fire on the night of Feb. 10th, 1864. At that 
time it was occupied by the Academical Department of the 
Sag Harbor Union School, which had been formed by the 
consolidation of three former school districts under an Act of 
the State Legislature passed April 22d, 1862. The other de- 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 357 

partments of the school were at that time distributed about 
the village in different school-houses occupied under the for- 
mer system. After the destruction of the Academical build- 
ing, that department was accommodated in the basement of 
the Baptist church until its removal with the other depart- 
ments to their present quarters. 

The Sag Harbor Union School Building stands on the east 
side of Main Street, in the business centre of the village, and 
is the largest and one of the handsomest school buildings in 
the county. It is four stories in height ; built of brick ; and 
with its furniture, apparatus, &c, is valued at $10,000. The 
ground floor is occupied by three stores, from which the 
school derives a revenue of $j00 a year. The school occu- 
pies the second, third and fourth floors, having its entrance 
from Division Street, in the rear of the building. This 
noble structure was built in 1846, and used as a hotel, called 
the Mansion House ; but finally being offered for sale under 
a partition suit, for the purpose of settling the estate to which 
it belonged, a number of the liberal spirited citizens of 
this place, headed by Dr. Frederick Crocker, having long 
felt the need of a suitable building for school purposes, pur- 
chased this building at auction, and presented it to the Dis- 
trict for a school house. At this sale it was "struck off" at 
the insignificant price of $7,510. It was fitted up for the 
purpose, and the school moved into it in 1871. The school 
now nnmbers three hundred and seventy-five pupils, and 
employs a corps of eight teachers, including the Principal. 
Besides the great variety of English branches included in the 
regular course of this school, instruction is also given in the 
Latin, Greek, and German languages. 



358 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 

The Town Hall, a small building located on Sage Street, 
near the Episcopal church, is used for all public meetings of 
t le corporation. 

Suffolk Lodge, I. O. O. F., the first of the order established 
in the county, was organized here in 1843, with five members. 
At the present time it numbers ninety ; and is in a prospering 
c mdition. An "Encampment" was started in 1859, but 
a'ter working about ten years was suspended, until May 1871, 
when it was again revived, and now numbers twenty-five 
strong. Wamponamon Lodge of Free Masons numbers one 
hundred and six members. (Wamponamon is the Indian 
name of Montauk Point. ) Montauk Division, Sons of Tem- 
perance was instituted here soon after the commencement of 
the order, in 1844, and continued in existence until 1865. 
Agawam Division, its successor, was instituted April 5, 1867, 
and has now a membership of over one hundred. A local 
Temperance Society under the patronage of the Methodist 
and Presbyterian Churches, holds monthly meetings alter- 
nately in each church. This village also rejoices in the pos- 
session of a musical society called the Sag Harbor Choral 
Union, whose object is to develop home talent ; and a flourish- 
ing Brass Band, whose performances before the public are 
well received. Sag Harbor was made a port of entry in 1784, 
and by itself now constitutes a district of customs. It form- 
erly belonged to the district of New London. 

Hog Neck is a peninsula lying between here and Shelter 
Island, connected to the town of Southampton by a narrow 
beach, sometimes flooded by the tide, about a mile west of 
Sag Harbor. From the vicinity of the railroad depot in this 
village a long bridge, once a "toll bridge," forms a direct 



TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 359 

connection with the Neck. This peninsula is about three 
miles long and one and a half wide, stretching its length 
north and south. The surface is undulating, and it contains 
some fine farming land. Here and there over its territory are 
scattered pleasant farm-houses on locations which command 
delightful prospects of the surrounding scenery. Apprecia- 
ting its beauty and advantage of location, a few gentlemen 
from the city have recently established summer residences 
upon it. Hon. Charles P. Daly, of New York, has fitted up 
a cottage for himself on a site which affords a beautiful view 
of the village and its institutions, as well as the neighboring 
country and the surrounding waters. 

A light-house was built upon Cedar Island, at the entrance 
to the port of Sag Harbor, in 1839, and re-fitted in 1855. 
The light is a fixed one, thirty-four feet above the water level, 
and is visible at a distance of ten miles. 

Noyack is a settlement of about twenty houses, on Little 
Peconic Bay, three miles west of Sag Harbor. It contains a 
grist-mill and a district school. 

Flanders is a village of fishermen lying on an indentation 
from Peconic Bay, about three miles southeast of Biverhead. 
It contains about thirty houses, a store, school, and two 
small churches. These are a Congregational church which 
was erected some forty years ago as a chapel under the care 
of the church at Upper Aquebogue, and a Methodist Episco- 
palmore, recently established. The place has been an im- 
portant point for the exportation of cordwood. 



CHAPTER XV. 



SOUTHOLD TOWN — HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. 

The town of Southold occupies the eastern extremity of 
Long Island, on the North Branch. The connected land of 
the town is about twenty-two miles in length, and the western 
half has an average width of three miles, while the remainder 
varies in width from a mere sand beach of a few rods to one 
and a half or two miles. Plum Island, Great, and Little 
Gull Islands, and Fisher's Island, all belonging to this town, 
extend in a line about twenty miles beyond the extreme 
point. Bobbins Island, also belonging to this town, lies in 
Peconic Bay, and Great and Little Hog Necks project into 
the same water. Numerous creeks, coves and bays divide the 
shore into irregular forms. These creeks afford abundant 
resources for sea-weed, grasses, shells and mud, which are 
used for manures on the adjoining land. The principal pari 
of the land of this town is cleared, and being divided into 
farms of moderate size is kept in an excellent state of cultiva- 
tion. The soil naturally is of fair quality — not remarkably 
different from that of the county generally, — but under the 
economical and successful system by which it is managed, we 
venture to say that the land of this town returns larger profits 
for its cultivation, and commands a higher price in the 
market, than the land of any other town in the county. 

The first settlement of this town was made in September 
1640, by a party of thirteen, whose names were as follows : 
Rev. John Youngs, Barnabas Horton, William Wells, Peter 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 361 

Hallock, John Tuthill, Kichard Terry, Thomas Mapes, Math- 
ias Oorwin, Robert Akerly, Jacob Corey, John Conkline, 
Isaac Arnold, and John Budd. Most of them had emigrated 
from the vicinity of Hingham, in Norfolkshire, England. 
After remaining a short time at New Haven they crossed to 
the island and commenced the settlement here, nnder the 
leadership of Rev. John Youngs, who not only stood at the 
head of the little colony as a political body, but had been 
installed pastor of the ecclesiastical society into which they had 
already been organized. The settlement begun by this party 
of immigrants was on the site at present occupied by the 
central portion of Southold village. The land was purchased 
of the Corchoug Indians, a numerous tribe then occupying 
this section, and by them it was called Yennecock. The 
settlers at first gave it the name of Northfleet, and afterward 
it was called the South Hold by the authorities of the colony 
of New Haven, which name appears to have been suggested 
by the fact that they had gained a hold upon the land which 
lay over on the south of them. The Governor of New Haven, 
and other magistrates of that colony prepared the way for 
the settlers, by purchasing the land of the Indians, and for 
several years held the conveyance in their own hands. By 
this means they were able to exercise some control over the 
town or "Plantation," but the arrangement proved so unsat- 
isfactory to the people that in 1649 the general court of 
New Haven consented to release it. Previous to that time 
the limits of the "Plantation " does not appear to have ex- 
tended further west than the present site of Cutchogue vil- 
lage, but that year an additional purchase of the Indians was 
made in behalf of the jurisdiction of New Haven and Con- 



cG2 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 

necticut, which purchase extended about eight miles further 
west, and included the localities called by the Indians Matta- 
tuek and Aquabouke, and in 1659 this tract was re-purchased 
by the town, and the claim of the colonies across the sound 
released. The peninsula of Oyster Ponds, or Orient, the 
eastern extremity of the land, called by the Indians Poqua- 
tuck is supposed to have been first purchased of the natives by 
Peter Hallock, in 1641. He afterward returned to England 
for the purpose of bringing his family hither, and being 
absent a considerable length of time the Indians sold it again 
to other parties. John Tuthill, John Youngs Jr., Israel 
Brown, Eichard Brown, Samuel Brown, and John King were 
the first settlers on the peninsula, and the time of their 
settlement was about the year ] 616. v In this way the Indian 
claims upon the territory of this town were extinguished, and 
its limits expanded from the extreme point of Oyster Ponds 
on the east, to the head of Peconic River and the Wading 
River on the west, a distance of thirty-seven miles. The 
islands belonging to it were purchased by individuals at 
different times. 

The affairs of the town were managed like other towns, by 
the people in town meeting, otherwise called the General 
Court. But the strict Puritan principals seem to have been 
more rigidly adhered to here than in most other towns, inas- 
much as communion with the Church was made a necessary 
qualification for admission to the privileges of Freemen. 
Only such were allowed to vote or have a voice in the civil 
government of the town. For several years no regular code 
of laws was established, other than the laws of God which 
were delivered by Moses, those laws being adopted as the 






TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 363 

foundation for the administration of the town government. 
In 1655 the general court desired Gov. Eaton to frame a code 
of laws which should be more appropriate to the wants and 
necessities of the plantations under the New Haven jurisdic- 
tion, which was done, and the year following five hundred 
printed copies were distributed, of which the town of South- 
old received fifty. As in other towns, provision was made 
for the education of children, the support of the gospel, and 
protection against enemies that might invade them. Every 
man was required to provide arms and ammunition for him- 
self, and to be in readiness to comply with any summons to 
assemble, either for drill or for the defence of the settlement. 
No stranger was allowed to settle within its jurisdiction with- 
out the approval of the committee which the town appointed 
to investigate the character of candidates, and no inhabitant 
could sell or lease real estate to any who had not been thus 
approved. 

March 10, 1658, Humphrey Norton, a Quaker, was sent a 
prisoner from this town to the General Court of New Haven, 
to be tried on a charge of slandering Mr. Youngs, the pastor, 
seducing the people from their allegiance to the settled doc- 
trines of religion, endeavoring to spread heretical opinions, 
and using plasphemous expressions, attempting to vilify or 
null'fy the authority of magistrates and the government, and 
instigating rebellion and disorder with boistrous language 
and unseemly conduct. He was fined £20, and sentenced to 
be severely whipped, branded with the letter H on his hand, 
and banished from the jurisdiction. 

In 1619 the Indians of the vicinity become troublesome, 
and committed several outrages, among which were one or 



36tt TOWN OF SOUTIIOLD. 

two murders. The town established a vigilant guard, which 
no doubt prevented additional acts of violence. These hos- 
tile depredations were committed by individuals, without the 
concurrence of the tribe as a body. 

In order to be prepared to repel to the best advantage any 
attack that might be made upon them by the savages, it was 
required that every male inhabitant between the ages of 
sixteen and sixty should provide himself with a sword and a 
gun, and keep supplied with ammunition, under penalty of 
ten shillings fine for every default. It was also directed by 
the general court of the New Haven colony that each planta- 
tion should keep on hand one hundred pounds of powder 
and four hundred pounds of shot, and keep their great guns 
loaded ready for use. Six trainings a year were held, and 
one fourth of the train bands required to come to the place of 
public worship, armed and equipped, at the beat of the drum, 
Sentinels were kept on duty night and day, and the militia 
in readiness to assemble for defence of the settlement. These 
strict measures are supposed to have been in force, during 
such times as apprehensions of Indian hostilities were great. 

On the arrival of the new charter of Connecticut, in 1662, 
by which New Haven was joined to that colony, this town 
came under the general court at Hartford, and in 1664 it was 
united with the other towns of the island under the Duke's 
government of New York. Dec. 7, 1665, the town obtained 
from the Indians a deed of confirmation for their land, made 
to Capt. John Youngs, Barnabas Horton, and Thomas Mapes, 
and signed by the sachem and thirty-five others. "When the 
colony of New York was surrendered again to the Dutch in 
1673, Southold with the other eastern towns refused to sub- 



TOWN OF SOTJTHOLD. 365 

mit, and the Dutch attempted to force them to allegiance, 
but without success, Connecticut sending assistance to repel 
the latter. During the short term of Dutch rule this town 
remained with Easthampton and Southampton in connection 
with Connecticut, and the people were desirous of continuing 
that connection after the colony had been again surrended to 
the English in 1674, but their wishes were disregarded, and 
with much reluctance they were compelled to return to the 
Duke's government, which was then re-established under 
Gov. Andros. The people at first refused to apply for a 
patent for their land, but being threatened by the Governor 
with disfranchisement if they persisted in such obstinacy, they 
yielded, and a patent for the town was issued Oct. 31, 1676. 
This covered the territory now occupied by this town 
and Biverhead. The patentees names were Isaac Arnold, 
Justice of the Peace ; Capt. John youngs ; Joshua Horton, 
Constable ; and Barnabas Horton, Benjamin Youngs, SamTiel 
Glover and Jacob Corey, Overseers, for themselves and their 
associates. The annual quit-rent was as usual, one fat lamb. 
The town was divided, and Biverhead formed from the 
western part, by Act of the State Legislature March 13, 1792. 
The town of Shelter Island also, though properly a distinct 
incorporation, was by the desire of its inhabitants united in 
its government and public deliberations with this town until 
1730. 

During the early period of the colonial government the 
courts of the county, or "riding," were held in this town a 
part of the time. Dec. 15, 1684, men were appointed by the 
court "to view and apprise the old meeting house, in order to 
make a county prison of said house, and upon their return 



3GG TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 

they give in they valued the body of the house at thirty-five 
pounds." The house in which courts are said to have been 
previously held is still standing in the village of Southold, 
and forms a part of a dwelling which was new many years 
later though now sadly defaced by age. The old church 
probably answered the purpose until the erection of new 
buildings and the removal of the county seat to Biverhead. 

The Hon. Ezra L'Hommedieu, one of the most useful and 
enterprising men of his day, was a native and resident of 
this town. He was born Aug. 30, 1734. His grandfather, 
Benjamin was a native of France, settled in this town 
in 1690, married a daughter of Nathaniel Sylvester, of 
Shelter Island, by whom he had two sons, Benjamin 
and Sylvester, the first of whom was the father of Ezra. 
"He was called early into the public councils of the State, 
and for forty years without intermission his name is found 
associated with the prominent patriots and legislators of this 
State and the Union." He was elected to the Continental 
Congress in 1779, and again in the years 1781, '82 and '83. 
From 1788 to within a short time before his death he was 
almost constantly in the senate of this State. In 1784 he was 
appointed clerk of the county, which office he held twenty-six 
years. He was one of the "Begents of the University" from 
1787 till his death, which occurred Sept. 27, 1811. 

This town presents almost a solid and continuous settle- 
ment, from one end of its territory to the other. Nearly the 
whole surface is occupied by farms, and the settlements 
joining each other in unbroken lines, are compact enough to 
be pleasant, and still afford sufficient room for the convenient 
prosecution of farming operations. 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 307 

Franklinville is a settlement of about forty houses, on the 
Middle Country Road, in the southwest corner of the town, 
and lying partly in Riverhead. The L. I. R. R. runs through 
the settlement, and has a freight station for its accommoda- 
tion. Farming, gardening, small fruit raising, and the culti- 
vation of root crops are the principal occupations of the peo- 
ple, and these branches of industry are extensively and 
successfully carried on. A Presbyterian church, pleasantly 
situated in the midst of this settlement, was completed and 
dedicated in 1831. Franklinville Academy was erected in 
1832, and the school opened the following year, which has 
been most of the time fairly sustained. 

Mattituck is a more ancient settlement, scattered over 
several square miles of territory, lying on the east and north 
of Franklinville. Its thinly settled suburb lies in the north- 
west part of the town, adjoining Northville, while the main 
centre of the village lies at the head of Mattituck Creek, about 
three miles from the western boundary of the town. The L. 
I. R. R. passes through the midst of this centre, and has a 
depot here. The village cemetery, two churches, two stores, 
a hotel, and a few shops are located near by. Mattituck 
Creek, or Bay as it is sometimes called, is a considerable body 
of water, extending from the sound, inland more than two 
miles, being nearly two thirds the distance across the penin- 
sula. From its sides a number of arms extend into the land, 
forming a variety of irregular necks and points. A grist-mill 
is located on the creek within a mile of the sound. This 
water and its shores affords a field which is much resorted to 
by the inhabitants of the neighborhood and sportsmen in 
pursuit of fish, clams, and wild fowl. 



368 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 

Tlie settlement of this village is supposed to have com- 
menced soon after the purchase of the territory from the In- 
dians in 1649. The village, including the rambling settle- 
ment around Mattituck Creek, now contains a population of 
about six hundred. They are engaged mostly in farming, 
gardening, and small fruit raising. Immense quantities of 
strawberries are raised here : also cauliflower, cabbage and 
root crops. Cranberries are cultivated to some extent. Ex- 
tensive seed gardens have also been established. A number 
of handsome country residences are scattered about the 
vicinity. Mattituck Lake is a beautiful sheet of fresh water 
lying in the western part of the village, and a road which 
runs around its shore affords pleasant sites for a number of 
dwellings. Hallock's Pond, lying in the western part of the 
village is another sheet of water, of about the same size, upon 
which improvements may be made with profitable results. 
The village school stands near the former lake. 

The first church of this village is stated by Thompson to 
have been built in 1697, but according to evidence unearthed 
by Prime it was built in 1716. The first church was of the 
Presbyterian order, and the denomination and site are still 
preserved. Under date of Nov. 7, 1715, James Beeves con- 
veyed to the society two acres of ground, for a meeting house 
site and burial place. A new church was erected in 1830, 
This was sold to the Methodist denomination, and in 1853 
the present Presbyterian church was built. This was rebuilt 
in 1871, and is now surmounted by a tall steeple, one of the 
finest on the "East End." The M. E. church lot adjoins the 
burying ground on the west. A Division of Sons of Temper- 
Mice numbers eighty-eight members. 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 3G9 

About two miles north of Mattituck village a tributary set- 
tlement commences near the Creek, and extends along a road 
which runs eastward about three miles. This settlement oc- 
cupies a school district, and contains about forty houses. It 
is locally known as Oregon. It abounds in rich, highly culti- 
vated farms. The eastern part of the locality extends along 
on the north of Cutchogue. 

The village of Cutchogue, named in remembrance of the 
tribe of Indians which once occupied this whole township, 
adjoins Mattituck on the east, being centrally distant about 
three miles. The main part of the village lies along the 
Middle Country Road a distance of three miles or more-. 
The settlement boasts of considerable antiquity, having been 
commenced, as is supposed, but a few years after the first 
settlement of the town. This village is located on the site of 
an Indian village; as also is the case with Mattituck. Like 
its neighbors, it is an extensive and highly cultivated farming- 
district. The products of the adjoining bay and creeks, such 
as sea-weed, grasses, fish and the like, are extensively used as 
fertilizers, and with profitable results. The land is level, or 
gently rolling, and the soil naturally good. The farms are 
comparatively small in area, but large in productiveness and 
value. Sixty acres is considered a large farm here, and from 
$200 to $300 an acre for farm land is a common price. The 
village contains three stores, two district schools, three 
churches, and a population of about seven hundred and fifty. 
Cutchogue station on the L. I. R. R. is about a mile north of 
the village street. A Presbyterian church was erected in this 
village about the year 1737. In 1838 it Avas re-built. The 
present church stands on the north side of the main street, 



370 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 

near the central point of the village. The Congregational 
church, standing on the opposite side of the street, near the 
same spot, was erected in 1SG2. A Methodist Episcopal 
church was erected in the eastern part of the village in 1829 
or r 30. A new church was built by this denomination in 1857. 
This stands a short distance to the west of the old site, and 
the village cemetery lies in the rear of it. In 1858 the old 
church was sold and converted into a dwelling house. An 
ancient burial ground lies on the opposite side of the street 
from it. The Roman Catholic denomination have purchased 
a lot, with a view to the erection of a house of worship. 
Services are held in a former dwelling house which stands on 
the lot. 

St. Peter's Hall, a select school for boys and girls, 
which enjoyed considerable favor and patronage from the 
people of this and the neighboring towns, was located in the 
eastern part of the village, on a section of ground known as 
"The Commons." The school was founded in 1844, by Miss 
E. C. Mapes, and continued under the same management 
until 1869. The school was self-sustaining, and from a very 
small beginning the attendance was shortly increased to 
seventy pupils, and during the twenty-five years of its exist- 
ence it maintained an average of about forty-five. The peo- 
ple of this and the neighboring villages are noted for their 
constancy on the Temperance question. A Division of the 
Sons of Temperance was organized here about the commence- 
ment of that order, and now, after a prosperous existence of 
more than a quarter of a century, numbers one hundred and 
thirty-nine members. 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 371 

New Suffolk is a pleasant little village, of modern origin, 
delightfully situated on the shore of Great Peconic Bay, one 
and a half miles south of Cutchogue. The village plat is laid 
out in regular squares, and contains a school, a store, a hotel, 
and a population of about two hundred. It lies upon a point 
of land projecting somewhat into the bay, and has a con- 
venient wharf, the adjoining water being of sufficient depth 
to accommodate vessels of the largest class. The village was 
commenced about the year 1840. In 1843 it had some com 
merce, including two or three ships engaged in the whaling 
business. Steamboat lines connect with Sag H arbor, Green- 
port, New London and New York. During the summer 
season it is visited by considerable numbers of city boarders. 
A very important source of revenue for this village is furnished- 
by the scallop trade, which is extensively carried on during 
the winter. Immense numbers of these bivalves are caught 
in the neighboring waters, and a number of shops are devoted 
to the business of preparing and packing them for market. 

Bobbins Island lies in Peconic Bay, directly opposite and 
about a mile distant from New Suffolk. This island was a 
part of the twelve thousand acres chosen by James Farrett as 
his remuneration for acting as agent to Lord Stirling in the 
disposal of Long Island real estate. By him it was sold in 
1641 to Stephen Goodyear. At the commencement of the; 
Revolution it was owned by Parker Wickham, and by an act 
of the legislature Oct. 22, 1779, it was confiscated as the 
property of a tory. In 1784 it was conveyed by the commis- 
sioners of forfeitures to Francis Nicoll and Maj. Benj. Tall- 
madge, by whom it was sold to Ezra L'Hommedieu. The 
island contains about four hundred acres, the most of which 



372 TOWN OP SOUTHOLD. 

is a heavy, strong soil, which has in years past been produc- 
tive of great quantities of wood. The manufacture of brick 
has been extensively carried on for several years by Ira B. 
Tuthill, the present owner of the island. 

Nassau Point, formerly called Little Hog Neck, is a penin- 
sula projecting from the eastern part of this neighborhood 
into the bay, about two miles. It contains about five hun- 
dred acres of good soil, and is owned principally by Mr. 
James Wilson. Extensive improvements have recently been 
commenced upon it, with a view of making it a pleasant sum- 
mer resort and watering place. Fishing by means of shore 
seines is extensively carried on about the shores of the penin- 
sula and the land bordering the bay. 

The village of Peconic, formerly called Hermitage, is a rich 
and beautiful farming section, lying between Cutchogue on 
the Avest and Southold on the east. The centre of the neigh- 
borhood lies at the railroad station, three miles east of Cutch- 
ogue, and contains the post-office, two stores and one or two 
shops. The whole region is occupied by farms, and the 
population, embracing a school district, numbers about three 
hundred. Hutchinson's Creek rambles into the land from a 
cove on the south side called South Harbor, and Goldsmith's 
Inlet enters the north shore from the sound. A grist-mill, 
carried by the tide, is located on the latter, near the sound 
shore. 

The village of Southold, the original settlement of this 
town, adjoins Peconic on the east. Its location is ninety 
miles from New York, ten miles from the western boundary of 
the town, and twelve miles from the eastern extremity at Orient 
Point. The village is a thickly settled agricultural district, 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 373 

abounding in highly cultivated farms, and enterprising, suc- 
cessful farmers. The settlement occupies the breadth of the 
land, from the sound to the. bay, and contains a population of 
about eleven hundred. The central portion, or the village 
proper, is ranged along the Middle Country Road, which is 
thickly settled, forming a beautiful street a distance of abont 
two miles. Most of the dwellings are large, plain and sub- 
stantial in appearance, and give evidence of being occupied 
by a well-to-do, highly civilized, and peace loving commu- 
nity — just such a one as might do honor to the memory of 
those Puritans who planted here the seeds of civilized indus- 
try, sobriety, and Christianity, when the wilderness howled 
with the sounds of savage life. The village contains four 
churches, an academy, a savings bank, a newspaper and print- 
ing office, a hotel, five stores, and several shops and offices. 

At or near the central point of this village was the location 
of the first settlement of this town, which was one of the 
two first English settlements on Long Island, this being 
nearly cotemporaneous with that of Southampton. By the 
best authorities we are able to consult we learn that the first 
settlement of this village was made in September or October, 
1640. Oct. 21, 1640, the church constituted by the settlers 
was re-organized, or "gathered anew," having first been re- 
organized into a body at New Haven, before coming to the 
island. The Indian name of this locality was Yennecock. 
Here the Rev. John Youngs, and the church under his minis • 
try, founded a town, subject to the New Haven jurisdiction, 
which permitted none but church-members to vote or hold 
office. The first meeting-house was built in 1610-1: This 
stood in the northeast corner of the burying ground, a few 



374 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 

rods west of the present Presbyterian church site. After a 
better one was built, in 1684, the first was sold to the County 
for a prison, in which use it was continued until 1725. A 
deep excavation, which may be seen in the grave yard at the 
present day, is the remains of a dungeon which was con- 
structed beneath the building, and now indicates the site of 
the original church. A third building was erected in 1711, 
and continued in use ninety-two years. It was in size thirty- 
two by fifty feet, and stood on the opposite side of the street 
from the first, a short distance west of the present chapel. 
While this building was standing the Revolution occurred, 
and the State became the possessor of the eminent domain. 
The State required the church to elect trustees according to 
law, and directed these trustees to take the property of every 
kind and however acquired, which had been used for relig- 
ious purposes, and hold it for the use and benefit of the 
church. This was done forthwith, and so the First church of 
Southold become the first church organized in Suffolk county 
under the authority of the State of New York. The present 
Presbyterian church was erected in 1803. It is a substantial 
looking edifice, forty by sixty feet in size, and supplied with 
the modern improvements, standing on the south side of the 
main street in the northeast part of the village cemetery. 
This old burying ground having been enlarged, comprises 
some five or six acres of ground, and is well filled with graves, 
some of which contain the remains of the primitive settlers. 
The interior of the church was re-built and re-furnished in 
1850. A chapel belonging to this church was built in 1871, at 
a cost of $2,000. It stands on the opposite side of the street, 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLE. 375 

and in the rear of it stands a long row of sheds which cost 
upwards of $1,000. 

An Academy was built in Southold during the year 1834. 
The people of the First church contributed about four-fifths 
of the money for the purpose, but they consented to its 
organization on very objectionable principles, and the build- 
ing was soon sold for debt. It was incorporated by the 
State Legislature April 21, 1837, and during a part of the 
time was sustained in a creditable manner. It changed 
ownership, however, some eight or ten times, and the 
building was at different times appropriated to different 
purposes, until April 7, 1863, when it was sold to an agent 
of Bishop McLaughlan. It was afterwards moved, en- 
larged, and adapted to the purposes of public worship for 
St. Patrick's E. C. church, organized that year, and is still 
occupied by that denomination. It stands on the north side 
of the main street, a short distance west of the Presbyterian 
chapel, and a handsome residence for the use of the Priest 
has recently been erected on the east side of it. 

Southold Academy stands on a pleasant site, adjoining the 
railroad track, a short distance north of the institutions 
already noticed. The land was bought, and the building 
erected in 1857, under the direction of Messrs Barnabas H. 
Booth, Henry Huntting, and Kev. Epher Whitaker. These 
persons had collected from about forty donors nearly six 
thousand dollars for this object. Henry Huntting, Esq., and 
Capt. Theron B. Worth had each given $1,000, and the 
former afterwards greatly increased his donation. The 
founders placed the title, by a deed of trust, in the hands of 
the Trustees of the First church (Presbyterian) thereby se- 



376 TOWN OF SOUTHOLU. 

curing the permanent and proper management of the prop- 
erty. The Academy was first opened for instruction, Dec. 16, 
1867. It is supplied with books of reference, library includ- 
ing works on teaching and education, music books, organ, 
globes, maps, &c. The Principal has two assistants, and 
more than forty pupils. Already a considerable number of 
young men and young women have prepared for college or 
for business, and about twenty have become teachers, and 
the prospects of future success and usefulness of the institu- 
tion are growing brighter with each advancing year. 

Religious services by the Methodist Episcopal denomina- 
tion were commenced here in 1793. In 1819 the first church 
of that denomination was built here. A second church was 
built in 1850, and this was rebuilt and enlarged in 1866. It 
is now a handsome structure, and stands on the south side of 
the main street, a short distance east of the Presbyterian 
church. 

A Universalist church, erected in 1835-6 stands on an angle 
of the street a short distance west of the Presbyterian church. 

The Southold Savings Bank was incorporated in 1858, and 
the first deposit received July 5th of that year. This institu- 
tion owes its origin in a large degree to the enterprise and 
public spirit of Mr. J. H. Goldsmith, and it is said to be one 
of the most successful illustrations of the savings bank in a 
purely rural community that we have in the State. The 
amount of deposits in 1872 was $199,068.35 ; and tfre amount 
withdrawn the same year $153,616,06. The Suffolk County 
Mutual Insurance Co., an institution of this village, was incor- 
porated April 30, 1836. The amount insured, on the 1st of 
January, 1873, was $2,791,721.50 and the aggregate amount 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 377 

of all actual available assets at that date was $233,098,93, con- 
sisting of premium notes and cash. The aggregate amount 
of losses paid by the Company up to Jan. 1, 1873, was 
$8,855.17.. This company confines its business exclusively to 
Suffolk County, taking no risks outside of that territory. 
"Eastern Star " Lodge of Good Templars was instituted in 
this village in 1870. Southold Lyceum, an institution de- 
signed to cultivate literary talent, and furnish literary enter- 
tainment, was organized here Oct. 3, 1871, and now numbers 
sixty-six members. It has a library of one hundred and 
forty-five volumes. Willow Hill Cemetery is pleasantly loca- 
ted in the western part of the village. It was organized Aug. 
25, 1855, comprising about three acres, and contains a num- 
ber of finely kept lots, and handsome family monuments. 
A district school is located a short distance west of this. 
Another, the principal public school of the village, is located 
in the eastern part, and occupies a commodious lot. The 
Long Island Traveler, a weekly newspaper now published in 
this village, was started at Cutchogue Sept. 20, 1871, and 
moved here Aug. 20, 1872. Southold Division S. of T. is a 
flourishing institution, numbering about two hundred mem- 
bers. 

Horton's Point Light-house stands on a bold clifT on the 
sound shore, opposite this village, about two miles north of 
the central portion. This has a tower, thirty feet high, from 
its base, giving the light an elevation of one hundred and ten 
feet above the level of the sound. It was built in 1857, and 
gives a fixed light, visible twenty miles distant. 

Great Hog Neck lies south of the village, projecting into 
Peconic Bay about two miles. The cove which is formed on 



378 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 

the east of it is called Southold Bay, or Town Harbor, and 
from this several creeks project inland toward the village. 
The former town-poor-house was located near one of them. 
The peninsula of Great Hog Neck is about one and a half 
miles in width, and contains some two thousand acres, most 
of which is excellent farming land. It comprises a school 
district, and contains about forty farm-houses. 

Arshmamogue is a swampy locality lying about two miles 
east of Southold. A school district in this neighborhood 
comprises about thirty houses. Brick-making is carried on 
to considerable extent. The island here is less than two miles 
in width, and a creek from the bay puts into the land so far 
as to leave but a narrow sand beach of only a few rods in 
width between its head and the water of the sound. 

The village of Greenport, five miles beyond Southold, lies 
at the extremity of the Long Island Railroad, ninety-five 
miles from Brooklyn, and is one of the most thrifty and 
growing villages in the county. It is pleasantly located, 
bounded south by Greenport Harbor, east by Sterling Creek, 
and north by the Long Island Sound, though the thick set- 
tled portion of the village does not extend to the sound. The 
swampy locality of Arshmamogue lies on the west. The har- 
bor is one of the safest and most commodious on the Atlantic 
coast. It is completely land-locked, and the largest vessels 
can come up the lower bay into it, and find a safe harbor and 
complete shelter from storm. Even the Great Eastern can come 
into this harbor and anchor within a few feet of the main wharf. 
The village is well built, and has a very neat and clean appear- 
ance, great care being taken by the inhabitants to keep their 
premises in repair, and to decorate and adorn their grounds. 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 379 

The streets are more regularly laid out tlian most villages in 
the county, and the inhabitants are a thrifty, industrious class 
of people. Greenport is a modern village, having been built 
within the past forty-five years, and therefore has not a very 
ancient record. The locality was originally called Sterling 
and the name is still preserved in the village. On the east 
is Sterling Creek; then there is a Sterling St., a Sterling- 
Place, a Sterling Ave. , and a few years since there was a 
Sterling Ladies Seminary. Previous to the Revolution there 
was a wharf near the outlet of Sterling Creek, where sloops 
engaged in the West India trade were accustomed to land 
their cargoes of rum and molasses. Remnants of this wharf 
are still to be seen. About the time of the Revolution there 
were six houses on the site of the present village, five of them 
being on Sterling St. , at that time called Sterling Lane, that 
being the only street or lane near this locality. At the com- 
mencement or early part of the present century a considera- 
ble part of the village site was the farm of one Capt. David 
Webb, and this was sold at auction on the 23d of March, 1820, 
being the first step in the building up of the village. The 
bank on the east of Main Street wharf was called Green Hill, 
and opposite this was a favorite spot for vessels bound down 
the bay to anchor and lay over night. The name of the vil- 
lage was changed to Greenport by a meeting of the inhabi- 
tants in 1834. Main Street was laid out in 1827, and the 
first set of marine railways laid the same year. The Main 
Street wharf was built that year and has been enlarged several 
times since, and was incorporated in 1830. Union wharf, at 
the foot of Central Ave., was commenced in 1838, and in- 
corporated in 1851. The Long Island Railroad was built to 



3S0 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 

Greenport in 1844. The wharf of the company, at the end of the 
trick, was built the same year. This wharf has been allowed 
to decay and fall to pieces until it is but an unsightty and 
rotten mass of broken timbers and piles, very much disfigu- 
ring the appearance of the water front. The company built 
new wharf on the south side of it in 1871. Soon after the 
completion of the road a mail route, between New York and 
Boston, was established upon it, connecting here with 
steamers for Allen's Point, Conn. This arrangement was 
kept up about three years, and a similar one was revived in 
1872. 

The village of Greenport was incorporated in 1867. It 
contains a population of something more than two thousand. 
There are about twenty stores, and a number of saloons and 
tradesmen's shops. Also seven churches, five hotels and a 
number of private boarding houses, a bank, two newspapers, 
and various other institutions which we shall presently 
notice. 

The Fire Department is one of the institutions of the vil- 
lage, and is held a special object of pride, by the inhabitants 
as well as the members of the department. In this matter 
Greenport is probably better furnished than any other village 
in the county. The first fire engine was purchased by volun- 
tary contributions of the the citizens in 1847, and a company 
formed in connection with it called " Damper Engine Co., 
No. 1." About a year afterward the company was disbanded. 
"Game Cock Engine Co., No, 1," was soon after organized with 
the same machine, and was also furnished with a quantity of 
hose and a house. "Neptune Engine Co., No. 2," was 
organized in 1855, and the same month received a new piano- 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 381 

deck engine. The Fire Department w^s organized by the 
association of the two companies, Sept. 12, 1856. "Phoenix 
Hook and Ladder Co., No. 1," was organized Jan. 30, 1860. 
About that time the name of " Game Cock " Engine Co. was 
changed to " Empire" Engine Co. Daring the winter of 
1864-5 the Department was incorporated by act of the legisla- 
ture, and so it remained until it was merged in the village 
corporation in 1867. The ''Phoenix Hook and Ladder Co." 
was incorporated by act of the legislature in 1869. Feb. 2, 
1872 a new double-deck engine was procured for Engine Co., 
No. 1, and a few days later a first-class piano-deck engine of 
great power was purchased by Company No. 2. " Eagle Hose 
Co. No. 1 " was organized in the early part of 1872, in con- 
nection with Engine Co. No. 1; and "Belief " Hose Co., No. 
2, in connection with "Neptune" Engine Co. the latter part 
of the same year. 

The Presbyterian church stands at the junction of Sterling 
and Main Streets, facing down the latter. This is a handsome 
building, and was dedicated Dec. 3, 1835. A neat chapel 
stands beside it. The society was organized Feb. 7, 1833, 
mostly from the membership of the church at Southold. The 
Baptist church stands a few rods below, on the east side of 
Main Street. The society was organized Sept. 12, 1831, and 
the church edifice, erected in 1835, stood in the upper part of 
the village, near the "North Road." It was moved to its 
present site in 1844, and having been enlarged in 1855, is now 
the largest church in the village. The Methodist Episcopal 
church stands a short distance south of the Baptist, on the 
opposite side of the street. It was built in 1834; partially 
destroyed by fire about the year 1847, and enlarged in 1858. 



382 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 

A commodious lecture room stands adjoining it. The Congre- 
gational church is located on First Street, corner of North. 
It was built in 1848. This is a very fine building and has & 
capacity sufficient to seat four or five hundred, but for several 
years no service has been held in it. The Episcopal church, 
called the Church of the Holy Trinity, is a modest but neat 
looking building, located well up-town, on Sterling Street, 
at the head of First. The society was organized Oct. 19, 1863, 
and services according to the usages of the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church were first held in the cottage building in the rear 
of the Wyandank Hotel. May 23, 1865, A. M. C. Smith, 
Esq., donated a lot on which to erect a house of worship, and 
the corner stone of the structure was laid on Easter Monday, 
1865. The Roman Catholic church, standing in the southwest 
part of the village was built about the year 1856. There is 
also an African church, and a congregation of Free Method- 
ists in the village. 

The Greenport Union Free School is located on First 
Street, near the centre of the village. The first school house 
was erected on the same site, in 1832, and the identical build- 
ing now serves as a kitchen to a house standing near. The 
initial part of the present building was erected in 1845. This 
was in size forty-five by twenty-six feet, and two stories high. 
In 1868 the building was enlarged by the addition of thirty 
feet on its length. It is now too small to prDperly accommodate 
the increasing numbers of the school. The Union Free 
School was organized as such in 1868. It now numbers about 
four hundred pupils, and employs the services dl five teach- 
ers. 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 383 

The Greenport Cemetery lies in the north part of the 
village. It comprises about four acres, and was laid out in 
1843. This is not under the charge of any organized society, 
but the land was bought by one person for the purposes of a 
burial ground, and sold in lots to individuals, and the grounds 
are kept in order, and fences made and repaired by the sub- 
scriptions and charity of the people of the village. It is 
nicely laid out, and contains a number of handsome monu- 
ments. 

The Republican Watchman, a weekly newspaper, was started 
at Sag Harbor on the 16th of September, 1826, by Samuel 
Phillips, and was moved to Greenport in September 1814. 
Mr. Phillips continued the paper, but in 1852 its editorial 
management was transferred to his son, S. Wells Phillips. In 
1858 Mr. Phillips, Sen. , died, and the paper was sold to Henry 
A. Ketves, into whose hands it was transferred Dec. 4, of that 
year. It is still published by Mr. Reeves, and has a circulation 
and influence second to none in the county. The Suffolk 
Times was established in this village in 1856, by John J. Rid- 
dell. In 1862 it was purchased by Cordello D. Elmer, who in 
1865 sold it back to Mr. Riddel 1. It was transferred to Buel 
G. Davis in 1866, and in 1870 sold to Wni. R. Duvall, by 
whom it has since been published. The First National Bank 
of Greenport was organized in 1864, with a capital of $50,000, 
which was increased in a few years to $75,000. The Bank 
building, occupying a conspicuous and convenient locality, 
was erected in 1870. Peconic Lodge of Free Masons was 
organized in 1854, and received its charter in June, 1855. It 
lias a membership of one hundred and forty. Sithra Chapter 
of Royal Arch Masons was organized in 1867. Greenport 



384 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 

Lodge of Odd Fellows was organized in 1855. It has a mem- 
bership of about seventy-five. 

The whale fishery enterprise was carried on from this port 
for many years, and with considerable profit. At one time 
about twenty ships from here were engaged in the business. 
The first ship was purchased in 1830, and after a brief though 
prosperous existence the enterprise declined and was abandon- 
ed some twenty years ago. For many years there has been a 
large fleet of fishing smacks owned and hailing from this port, 
engaged in the halibut and cod fisheries and the lobster trade. 
Greenoort has also a considerable number of vessels engaged 
in foreign and coastwise commerce. On the books of the 
Surveyor of the Port there are at present two hundred vessels 
of all descriptions, with an aggregate tonnage amounting to 
11,240. The ship -building industry is an important feature 
of the place. There are four yards and several sets of marine 
railways. The menhaden fisheries and manufacture of oil 
and " guano" have been extensively carried on in the vicinity 
of this village during the past twenty years. In 1870 there 
were some twenty factories in this neighborhood, with an in- 
vested capital of about $400,000. At that time about four 
hundred men were employed in the business. It was estima- 
ted that the product of the business about that time amounted 
to near $300,000 in a single season. The business has since 
greatly declined. There are at present six factories located 
on the shores of the bay, and two floating hulks in which the 
same business is carried on. The manufacture of stereotype 
plates has recently been started in this village, by the Middle- 
ton Stereotype Company. About thirty-five hands are already 
employed, and a larger number is expected as soon as the 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 385 

business becomes established. There are many German 
families living in this village and its immediate neighborhood, 
who are a temperate and industrious class of inhabitants. 
They are mainly employed in the manufacture of torpedoes 
for Fourth of July and other celebrations. A pottery was 
established in this village some forty-five years ago, and con- 
tinued until within the year past. Extensive beds of clay are 
found in the swamp of Arshmamogue. about two miles west 
of the village. Two brick yards located there turn out about 
one and a half million bricks a year. 

The village of East Marion, formerly called Roclrf Point, 
lies about two miles east of Greenport. It is a pleasant 
neighborhood, lying along the . main road which runs east to 
the extremity of the peninsula, and contains a population of 
three hundred and fifty. It is a rich farming district. At 
the eastern extremity of the village the land is contracted to 
a narrow isthmus, less than half a mile in width, and even 
this is nearly cut in two by a creek which puts in from the 
bay so far as to leave but a strip of a few rods in width be- 
tween its head and the sound shore. A grist-mill run by the 
ti e is located at the mouth of this creek. A wind grist-mill 
stands near the centre of the village. Besides these the vil- 
lage contains a church, a handsome district school, a temper- 
ance hall, and two stores. East Marion Lake is a handsome 
sheet of fresh water, lying between the village street and 
Orient Harbor, the name given to that part of the bay which 
indents this shore. Large quantities of ice are gathered from 
this lake and stored in a number of ho ses on its shore, for 
use in the neighboring villages. A cemetery lies on the 
northwest shore. A Baptist church society was organized 



386 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 

here in 1844, its membership having withdrawn from the 
church at Greenport. The house of worship, standing near 
the centre of the village was built soon after. " May Morn " 
Division, Sons of Temperance, numbers sixty-nine members. 
It meets in "Temperance Hall," the property of the Division. 

Orient is a village of about seven hundred inhabitants 
occupying the peninsula formerly called Oyster Ponds, and 
by the Indians named Poquatuck. This peninsula is about 
five miles long, by two to three miles wide, and containing 
about three thousand acres, forms the extremity of the north 
branch of the island. The surface of the peninsula is level, 
or gently rolling, except that the north side is considerably 
broken and rugged. The soil is good, and most of the land is 
cleared and occupied for farming purposes, the fields being 
enclosed to a large extent with stone walls, material for which 
is found in plentiful qnantities on the natural surface. Farm- 
ing operations, which occupy the principal attention of the 
people, are largely and successfully carried on, and the soil 
kept under a high state of cultivation by means of the fertil- 
izing products of the adjoining waters. The peninsula was 
first purchased of the Indians by Peter Hallock, soon after 
the first settlement of the town. It was settled about the 
year 1647 by a few families whose names were Youngs, Tut- 
hill, and Brown. On its eastern extremity a fort was erected 
in 1776, by Col. Livingston, with a view to prevent the land- 
ing of British troops on this part of the island. 

From near the eastern extremity a long sand beach returns 
on the south side of the peninsula a distance of some five miles, 
partially enclosing between it and the peninsula an irregular 
body of water called Long Beach Bay. Near the western 



TOWN OF SOTJTHOLD. 387 

extremity of this Long Beach is a light-house established 
in 1871. It is built on the shoal which makes out from 
Long Beach Point, and serves to mark the entrance to 
Orient and Greenport Harbors. In 1872 it was protected 
by a stone ice-break. The light-house was erected at a cost 
of about $17,000, and the ice-break at an additional cost of 
several thousand dollars. The lantern gives a red light, 
which is fixed, and visible some twelve miles. 

The Principal village of Orient lies on the shore of Orient 
Harbor, on the western part of the peninsula. The village 
is rather compact, and contains two churches, three stores, 
two hotels, two boot and shoe shops, and a few other trades- 
men. A commodious steamboat wharf projects into the 
Harbor. The village school is a creditable institution, well 
sustained. A wind grist-mill stands near the shore. The 
name of the village was changed to Orient about the year 
1836. The growth of this village may be inferred from the 
following figures, which are taken from "Griffin's Journal." 
In 1650 it contained six families; in 1700, twenty-four families; 
in 1750, forty-five families; in 1800, sixty families; and in 
1855, one hundred and thirty-six families . The village has 
some commerce. The first church is supposed to have been 
commenced in 1717, and completed about ten years later. 
This belonged to the Congregational order. The building is 
said to have been a peculiar specimen of architecture, resem- 
bling a series of squares piled one upon the other, and the 
whole surmounted by a spire and a sheet-iron whether-vane 
representing a game cock. This church was torn down in 
1818 to make room for another which was built about the 
same time. Another, much larger, more handsome and bet- 



388 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 

ter adapted to the purpose was built in 1844. This stands on 
the main road in the northern part of the village, and the old vil- 
lage burying ground lies across the road near by. Another, a 
more modern cemetery,lies off the road a quarter of a mile south 
of this . Still another, a much more ancient burial place than 
either, lies on the sound shere, a little north of the village. 
This resting-place of the dead lies in a deep valley, amid the 
appropriate and impressive solitude of the shore line hills, 
where scarce another sound ever breakes the stillness but the 
moaning of the wind and the murmer of the sea. The Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, standing near the center of the vil- 
lage was built in 1836, the corner stone laid on the 3d of June. 
A Division, S. of T., is sustained in this village, and numbers 
about one hundred members. 

Orient Point is the eastern extremity of this peninsula. It 
is a beautiful, level plain, and about twenty-five houses are 
located along the road which runs to the point. On the 
south side of the point is a steamboat wharf, and near it is a 
large summer boarding house which is largely patronized 
during the summer season by throngs of people who are at- 
tracted by the retirement, beauty, and varied privileges of 
this location. The house was built in 1834 and 5, and having 
been several times enlarged is capable of accommodating two 
hundred and fifty guests. 

' Plum Island lies across Plum Gut, about a mile east of 
Orient Point. This island is about three miles in length, and 
contains some eight hundred acres. The surface of the island 
is very rough, rocky, and hilly. There are a few families 
living upon it. The island was purchased of the Indians by 
Samuel Wyllys, of Hartford, in 1659, for one barrel of buscuit, 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 389 

one hundred muxes, and a few fish-hooks. A patent for it 
was granted by Gov. Andros, April 2, 1675. It was after- 
wards sold to Joseph Beebe. The historians tell us of a sin- 
gularly poised rock, which was found upon this island, and 
remained in its curious position until it was dislodged by a 
few of Commodore Hardy's sailors, in 1814 This rock was 
quite regular in form, rather roundish in shape, and about 
ten feet in diameter. It stood upon the very edge of another, 
larger rock, which lay in a plain, level field. The poised 
rock stood upon a very small foundation upon the other, and 
to all appearances would require but a slight effort to throw 
it off its balance. 

A light-house was erected on the west end of the island in 
1827. This was re-fitted in 1856. The tower is thirty-four 
feet high, from its base, and stands upon a hill which gives 
the light an elevation of sixty-three feet above the water 
level. It is a revolving light, flashing every thirty seconds, 
and is calculated to be visible twelve miles distant. 

In the "Kace," a few miles east of Plum Island, are situated 
two lesser ones, called Great, and Little Gull Islands. These 
are composed almost entirely of solid rock, otherwise they 
might have long since been washed away- Great Gull Island 
contains about fifteen acres, and Little Gull Island but about 
one acre. The latter is surrounded by a solid stone wall, 
which cost $10,000 and used more than 25,000 tons of stone. 
Upon the island stands a very important light, which serves 
to mark the entrance or passage from the ocean to the sound. 
This light was established in 1806, and re-fitted in 1857. It 
has a fog bell attached. The tower is fifty-six feet high, and 
the light seventy-four feet above the water. It givesa fixed 



390 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 

light, visible thirteen miles distant. This light is about seven 
miles beyond Orient Point. 

About four miles further in the same direction, which bears 
somewhat north of east, lies Fisher's Island, also belonging to 
the town of Southold. This island is about eight miles in 
length, with an average width of nearly one mile, and con- 
tains about four thousand acres. The surface is hilly and 
uneven, and the shores irregular, two small harbors being 
formed on the north' side. Wickaposset is the name given to 
the eastern point, and Race Point the name of the western 
extremity of the island. Some of the land rises in peaks and 
bluffs of considerable elevation, prominent among which are 
Mt. Prospect, near the west end, and another near the middle 
said to be considerable higher. Much of the surface is rocky. 
The soil is good, and is mostly occupied for grazing and farm- 
ing purposes. Considerable quantities of brick have been 
manufactured from a mine of clay found at the base of one of 
the hills. 

This island was first discovered by Adrian Block, in 1614. 
It was then named Vissher's Island, as is supposed, in honor 
of some of his companions. It was purchased of the Indians 
by John Winthrop, (afterwards Governor of Conn.) in 1644, 
and a patent of confirmation was given by Gov. Nicoll, March 
28, 1668, in which it was constituted an independent town- 
ship, with • ' equal privileges and immunities with any other 
town, enfranchised place or manor, within the government of 
New York ; and to be in no wise subordinate, or belonging 
unto or dependent upon, any riding, township, place, or 
jurisdiction whatever." In 1680 the government of Connec- 
ticut laid claim to the island, but without sustaining it. It 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 391 

has remained in the possession of descendants of the original 
purchaser, down to the present day. 

North Dumpling Light-house stands upon a small island in 
Fisher's Island Sound, two or three miles north of the island. 
The light-house was built in 1848, and re-fitted in 1855. Ifc 
gives a fixed light, which is visible twelve miles distant. The 
tower is twenty-five feet above its base, and the light shines 
from an elevation of seventy feet above the level of the sur- 
rounding water. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

TOWN OF SHELTER ISLAND — HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. 

Shelter Island lies between the two arms or peninsulas of 
the east end of Long Island, about half way from the head of 
Peconic Bay on the west to Montauk Point on the east. 
Across the strait on the north Greenport lies near a mile from 
the shore, and crossing a narrow channel and the peninsula of 
Hog Neck on the south Sag Harbor lies near the isthmus of 
that neck about four miles from the shore of this island. Sail 
boat ferries connect with either of these villages. The shores 
of this island are very irregular. Upon all sides rugged 
points and headlands project into the surrounding waters, and 
rambling bays, creeks and inlets penetrate far into the inte- 
rior. The surface also is very undulating and hilly, some of 
it being considerably elevated, and the whole island present- 
ing the most beautiful and varied scenery * of hill and valley, 
creek and cove, to be found on the borders of Long Island. 
Delightful groves, and enchanting prospects, with which the 
island abounds, add to the attractiveness of its scenery. The 
island contains about eight thousand acres, being about four 
miles in width and six miles in length . Gardiner's Bay washes 
its eastern shore and Peconio Bay, or Shelter Island Sound, 
washes the western shore. Besides the salt waters which in- 
dent the shores, numerous ponds of fresh water are scattered 
in the valleys. Swamps and peat beds are also common. The 
shores of the island are bold, and in some parts lined with 



TOWN OF SHELTEIi ISLAND. 393 

rocks. Some of the hills attain an elevation of o ne hundred 
feet or more. The soil of the island is good, and a consider- 
able part of it is under cultivation. Sheep raising is carried 
on to considerable extent. 

The English claim upon Shelter Island was given by Earl 
Stirling to James Farrett in 1637, and by Farrett sold to 
Stephen Goodyear, May, 18, 1641. It was at that time called 
Farrett's Island. June 9th, 1651, Stephen Goodyear sold the 
island to Nathaniel and Constant Sylvester, Thomas House, 
and Thomas Middleton, for sixteen hundred pounds of Mus- 
covado sugar. These proprietors obtained a confirmation of 
the purchase from Yokee or Youghco, the Indian chief, and 
others of the tribe which occupied the island. In 1656 
Thomas Rouse sold his share to John Booth, who again sold 
it to Nathaniel Sylvester. May 25, 1666, Gov. Nicoll, in con- 
sideration of £150, one half of which was paid in beef and 
the other half in pork, gave to the Sylvesters a release, exon- 
erating and acquitting the island from all "taxes and rates, 
either civil or military, and from all trayning, setting forth 
and .Keeping any soldiers, horses, arms, troopers, or other war- 
like provisions other than what they should voluntarily doe 
for the defence of their said island and this government in 
case of foreign invasion or disturbance by the natives." On 
the 31st of the same month Gov. Nicoll issued a patent of 
confirmation, constituting the island a township. After the 
re-capture of New York by the Dutch, Gov. Colve, April 28, 
1674 declared Constant Sylvester and Thomas Middleton 
enemies of the government (they being absent at the time), 
and confiscated their shares of the island; and Aug. 28, of the 
same year sold their interest to Nathaniel Sylvester, for £500. 



394 TOWN OF SHELTER ISLAND. 

He thus became possessor of the whole island. He had five 
sons, among whom the island was divided in equal shares, but 
three of them dying without issue, it eventually became the 
property of the other two, Giles and Nathaniel, the former of 
whom owned four fifths and the latter one fifth. Giles after- 
ward conveyed to William Nicoll of Islip, by sale and devise, 
one half the island. This Nicoll estate has been handed 
down through the family to the present time, being now 
occupied by Samuel B. Nicoll, M. D. At the death of Giles 
Sylvester, his brother Nathaniel came in possession of the 
remaining half of the island. Nathaniel Sylvester, in 1695 
sold one thousand acres near the middle of the island to 
George Havens, among whose numerous descendants, down 
to the present day, have been some of the most respected and 
honored men of this town. A considerable portion of the es- 
tate of Nathaniel Sylvester is still in the possession of his de- 
scendants, though having been transmitted through female 
members of the family the ancestral name is lost. Among the 
family names which have succeeded are Dering, L'Hom- 
medieu, Gardiner, and Horsford, the present owner. 

At the time of the discovery and settlement of this island 
it was occupied by a powerful and warlike tribe of Indians, 
numbering some five hundred strong, called the Manhassetts, 
or as some authorities give the name, Manhansett. The In- 
dian name of th^ island was Manhansack-aha-qushu-wamock, 
said to mean " an island sheltered by islands." This tribe of 
Indians was under tribute to the Pequotts and Block Island 
Indians. They are said to have been friendly to the whites. 
Poggatacut, the sachem of this tribe was an elder brother of 
Wy undanch, and had exercised the authority of Grand Sachem 



TOWN OF SHELTER ISLAND. 395 

of Long Island, which authority after his death passed to 
Wyandanch about the time, or soon after the first settlement 
of the neighboring towns. The principal residence and head- 
quarters of the sachem was upon the south side of the island, 
and the place is called Sachem's Neck to the present day. 

The first settlement of the town was made in 1652. Though 
properly a town by itself, for many years the public business 
of the island was by mutual agreement of the inhabitants 
transacted at the town-meetings of Southold. This arrange- 
ment continued until 1730, when the first town-meeting of 
Shelter Island was held, on the 7th of April. The town at 
that time contained twenty male inhabitants, of full age. 
The names of these early citizens of the town were as follows: 
William Nicoll, John Havens, Samuel Hudson, George Ha- 
vens, Elisha Payne, Joel Bowditch, Abraham Parker, Edward 
Havens, Samuel Vail, Thomas Oonk.ing, Edward Gilman, 
Brinley Sylvester, Jonathan Havens, Joseph Havens, Noah 
Tuthill, Sylvester L'Hommedieu, Henry Havens, Samuel 
Hopkins, John Bowditch, Daniel Brown. 

For many years after the first settlement was made upon 
the island, the people were in the habit of attending divine 
worship at Southold, not having sufficient numbers upon the 
island to support an independent organization. This arrange- 
ment continued until 1733, and no distinct church organiza- 
tion was established here until the year 1808. In 1712 Jona- 
than Havens, Jr., gave half an acre of ground near the 
middle of the island, for a meeting-house site and burying- 
ground. In 1743 Jonathan Havens and others united in 
erecting a house for religious worship, and obtained contribu- 
tions for the purpose from the neighboring towns, and from 



396 TOAVN OF SHELTEB ISLAND. 

Boston and New York as well. This was tli9 first meeting- 
house on the island, and its site was the same spot where the 
present Presbyterian chureh stands. Previous to the organiza- 
tion of a church here the pulpit was irregularly supplied, 
much of the time by ministers from neighboring congrega- 
tions. A Congregational chureh was organized here in 1803, 
which was changed to the Presbyterian form in 1812. This 
church has been the recipient of two valuable legacies, the 
first bequeathed by Brinley Sylvester in 1752, being £100, and 
the second given by Benjamin Conklin in 1826, amounting to 
about $8,000, a considerable portion of which is still invested 
for the benefit of the church. The present Presbyterian 
church, standing on the original site, near the center of the 
island, was built in 1816. In the building of this church Gen. 
Dering gave the timber from a forest which had been mutila- 
ted by the memorable September gale of 1815. Services 
according to the usages of the Protestant Episcopal church 
were commenced in the Town Hall on Sunday, May 14, 1871. 
During the past season [1873J a meeting-house has been 
erected, chiefly by the liberality of the Nicoll family. The 
building stands about half a mile east of the Presbyterian 
church, upon a lot of one acre of ground which was pur- 
chased and donated to the society for the purpose by Dr. S. 
B. Nicoll. The church was erected at a cost of about 
four thousand dollars. 

The inhabitants of this town are principally engaged in 
farming and fishing. They are scattered over the surface, and 
number about six hundred and fifty. The more thickly set- 
tled portion is the interior. Here are two stores, a post-office, 
and a telegraph office. The latter was established here about 



TOWN OF SHELTEE ISLAND. 397 

fourteen years ago, and a daily mail in 1854. The town has 
but one public school, and this is centrally located, and has at 
times been so well conducted that pupils from Connecticut 
and other places were sent here to secure its advantages. The 
present commodious building was erected in 1868, and school 
opened in it for the first time in Feb. 18G9. The Greenport 
Ferry, landing at Dering's Harbor, on the north side of the is- 
land, one and a half miles from Greenport, was incorporated by 
aet of Legislature on the ninth of April, 1859, with a charter 
to run ten years, which by another act, of May 2, 18G8, was 
extended ten years longer. During the summer season a steam 
propeller is run upon this ferry line, making trips every hour. 
Within the last twenty-two years sixteen fish factories have 
been established on the shores of the island. By an order of 
the Board of Health they have all been removed. 

The people of this town are noted for their sobriety and 
regard for temperance principles. The island is free from 
grog-shops. In 1828 a temperance society was formed here, 
which was continued in existence until 1842, when the Colum- 
biaL Total Abstinence Society took its place, and has ever 
since contiu ued to exert a wholesome influence among the 
people. 

During the last two or three years extensive improvements 
hf ve been made upon the north side of the island, by the 
Camp-meeting Association, and the Parks Association. The 
grounds of the Shelter Island Camp-meeting Association oc- 
cupy a beautiful hill, of considerable elevation, rising from 
the west side of Dering's Harbor. The grounds cover some 
two hundred acres, and have been beautifully laid out with 
walks, avenues and meeting-grounds, as well as cottage lots. A 



308 TOWN OE SHELTEK ISLAND. 

large hotel occupies a delightful position on the slope, and a 
number of tasty cottages have been erected upon the grounds. 
Camp-meetings have been held here, under the supervision of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, during the last two summers. 
The grounds of the Shelter Island Park Association lie on the 
east side of Dering's Harbor, upon what is commonly known 
as Locust Point, being the northeast part of the island. This 
is situated upon the estate which has been handed down 
through the descendants of Brinley Sylvester. Its latest 
owner is Prof. E. N. Horsford, from whom about two hun- 
dred acres were purchased by this Association for the purpose 
of establishing here a magnificent watering place and summer 
pleasure resort. The grounds are delightfully situated on 
rolling surface, considerably elevated, and presenting splendid 
prospects, overlooking Greenport village half a mile distant, 
and the shore of the peninsula, as well as the endless 
stretch of water which forms about the island. The grounds 
are laid out with artistic design, showing walks, avenues, 
drives, parks and pleasure grounds. Several cottages have 
been built, and a mammoth hotel, the "Manhansett " House, 
was opened the last season. This hotel is some two hundred 
feet long and four stories high, with a wing of about two 
hundred feet in length running back from one end. On the 
front it lias a tower one hundred and twenty feet high . The 
house is beautifully situated, and a wharf extends from near it 
into the water, making a convenient steamboat landing. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



EASTHAMPTON TOWN — HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. 



The town of Easthampton occupies the southern peninsula 
of the east end of Long Island, from the line of Southampton 
eastward as far as the land runs, being in length about twen- 
ty-five miles, and in width at the broadest point nearly eight 
miles. The average width however, would not exceed half 
that distance. The north shore is very irregular. The 
territory of this town is washed by the ocean and its tribu- 
tary waters on all sides except where it joins Southampton, 
on the west. A considerable part of this territory is em- 
braced in the peninsula of Montauk, and much of the re- 
maining portion is covered with forest and scrub-growth, 
leaving but a small proportion under cultivation. The south 
coast in some places is a low sandy beach, in others formed 
into small hills assuming every variety of shape, while on 
Montauk are high and rugged cliffs against whose base the 
waves of the ocean dash with almost ceaseless violence, any- 
thing like a profound calm here being of rare occurrence. 
The north shore being less exposed to the heavy action of 
the sea is for the most part level, and indented with numer- 
ous coves and small bays abounding in fish and in some 
instances navigable for small vessels. Though a great part of 
the land is inclined to be sandy there are considerably patches 
here and there of very fine soil. In fact some of the most 
fertile and beautiful farming land upon the whole island may 
be found within the limits of this town. 



400 TOWN OF EASTEtAMPT'Off. 

At the time of the first settlement by Europeans the soil 
was owned by the Montauk Indians, of whom purchases were 
made. The first settlement within the present jurisdiction of 
the town was made by Lyon Gardiner on Gardiner's Island in 
1639. The organized settlement of the town however did not 
take place until 1648. April 29 th of that year Theophilus 
Eaton, Governor of New Haven, and Edward Hopkins, Gov- 
ernor of Connecticut, at the solicitation of a party of emi- 
grants who wished to set Je here, obtained a grant of land 
from the Indians, and transferred their title in the same to 
the colonists. This grant embraced about thirty thousand 
acres, or the principal part of the town, excepting the penin- 
sula of Montauk. The consideration given the Indians for 
the same, was twenty coats, twenty four looking-glasses, 
twenty-four hoes, twenty-four hatchets, twenty-four knives, 
and one hundred muxes, valued altogether at £30, 4s, 8d, 
The Indians also reserved the privilege of fishing in any of 
the waters and hunting in the woods ; and were also to have 
the "ffynnes and tayles of all such whales as shoall be cast 
upp." The Indian deed was signed by Poygratasuck, 
Sachem of Manhassett ; Wyandanch, Sachem of Montauk ; 
Momometou, Sachem of Corchaug ; and Nowedonah, Sachem 
of Shinnecock. Though the land granted was occupied only 
by the Montauks, yet it seemed desirable as a measure of 
prudence to secure the assent of the sachems of these three 
neighboring tribes in order to guard against the possibility of 
their afterwards inserting any claim to the same lands. 

The settlers came from the neighborhood of Lynn, Mass., 
and commenced the first settlement on the site of the present 
village of Easthampton. The name Maidstone was given to 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 401 

the town at first, in remembrance of the place, in Kent, 
England, where several of the settlers had emigrated from. 
About fourteen years afterward it was dropped for the pres- 
ent name. The dwellings of the original planters are sup- 
posed to have been of very rude construction, without glass 
in the windows, with straw roofs and wooden chimnies which 
were plastered on the inside. The settlement was governed 
by laws enacted by the people assembled in town-meeting, or 
as they sometimes called those official gatherings, the general 
court. Civil and ministerial officers were likewise appointed ; 
and the decisions of magistrates confirmed or reversed by the 
same tribunal, from which there was no appeal, except to the 
general court of Connecticut, after the town was taken under 
that jurisdiction. Lands were at first allotted to individuals 
as the increase of population rendered necessary, and the 
proprietors were prohibited as in other towns from releasing 
any of their title therein to any proposed settler who had not 
first obtained the approval of the magistrates or the general 
court. 

"Whales were common along the shore and frequently 
drifted upon the beach. Men were kept at convenient sta- 
tions watching, and boats in readiness to start in pursuit 
whenever one was seen within range. At a very early period 
oil became a staple article of export, as well as home exchange. 

Very friendly relations appear to have always existed be- 
tween the white settlers of this town and their Indian neigh- 
bors. The latter occupied the peninsula of Montauk and 
were several times compelled to flee to the settlement of 
Easthampton for protection against their savage enemies, the 
Narragansetts by whom they were much annoyed, and kept in 



402 TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 

a state of constant fear. In return for the kindness showed 
them by their English neighbors the Indians allowed them 
the privilege of the pasturage on Montauk. 

In the original division of land among the proprietors in 
common, a house lot of ten or twelve acres was laid off for 
each in the village plat, and the woodlands and meadows were 
afterwards divided at different times as occasion demanded. 
Large parcels of ground in different places were left in com- 
mon and some of these remain at the present day. 

The officers of the town consisted of three justices of the 
peace, or magistrates, a clerk and constable. Actions for 
slander were among the most numerous class of cases which 
came before the courts of the town. In these the amount of 
damages recovered in any case could not exceed £5, but in 
other actions the jurisdiction of the courts was not limited. 

Among the municipal regulations of 1651 we find the 
following : 

"Noe man shall sell any liquor, but such as are deputied 
thereto by the towne, and such shall not lett youth and those 
under authority remain drinking att unreasonable hours; 
and such persons shall not have above half a pint among four 
men; and further Ordered, that Goodman Megg's lot shall 
not be laid out for James Still to goe to work on, and that he 
shall not stay here." "Noe Indian shall travel up and down, 
or carry any burthen in or through our towne on the Sabbath 
day; and Avhoever is found soe doing, shall be liable to cor- 
porall punishment" 

* 'March 7th, 1652. — At a general court it is ordered that 
any man may set guns to kill wolves, provided they be not 
set within half a mile of the town, and also to take up the 
guns by sunrise; and further that it shall not be lawful to 
sell any dog or bitch, young or old, to any Indian upon 
penalty of thirty shillings." 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 403 

"June 3d, 1G53. — It is ordered that one half the town shall 
carry arms to meeting upon the Lord's Day, with four suffi- 
cient charges of j^owder and shot." This it will be remem- 
bered was during those troublesome times when the suspicion 
was forced upon the English towns of Long Island that the 
Indians were conspiring with the Dutch to destroy the Eng- 
lish settlements. Great alarm prevailed about this time on 
account of these suspicions, and every possible measure was 
adopted for the safety of the little isolated colony. An extra 
supply of ammunition was obtained from Say brook fort, and 
a guard was maintained to prevent the fearful consequences 
of a sudden attack. The court authorized the guard to shoot 
down any Indian who should refuse to surrender on being 
hailed the third time. These precautionary measures it is 
probable were after all of no real necessity, as it does not ap- 
pear that any attack was made or even contemplated by the 
Indians of the neighborhood. 

"Feb. 12, 1654. — Ordered that whoever shall arise up a 
false witness against auy man, to testify that which is wrong, 
there shall be done unto him as he had thought to have dona 
unto his neighbor, whatever it be, to the taking away of his 
life, limb or g6ods." 

"May 8th, 1G55. — It is ordered, that for the prevention of 
abuse among the Indians, by selling them strong waters, no 
man shall carry any to them to sell, nor yet send any, nor em- 
ploy any to sell for them; nor sell any liquor in said town to 
any Indian for their £>resent drinking, above two drams at a 
time." 

"1G56, a woman was sentenced to pay a fine of £3, or stand 
one hour with a cleft slick upon her tongue, for saying that 
her .husband had brought her to a place where there was 
neither gospel or magistracy." 

The disposal of any guns, swords, powder or lead to the 
Indians was prohibited by law. The owners of straw thatch- 
ed houses were required to keep ladders near them, which 



404 TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 

should be long enough to reach to the ridge. Persons were 
appointed by the town to inspect chimneys and see that the 
inside was well plastered and kept clear of soot. Every able- 
bodied man was required to take his turn in watching on the 
beach for whales. 

For a number of years it seems the whipping-post was 
maintained as a common method of punishment for certain 
offences. In 1727, R. Syme occupied the position of common 
whipper by vote of the town. His official fees for this kind 
of i3ublic business were fixed at three shillings for each sub- 
ject whipped. 

In 1657 this town placed itself under the protection of Con- 
necticut, and the year following sent to that colony for a 
copy of laws suitable for their government, the most or all of 
which they adopted. 

At an early period Charles Barnes, one of the first settlers, 
was employed as a school-master at a salary of £30 a year, a 
part of the amount to be raised by a tax on the inhabitants. 

The first settlers were strict Puritans, and the establish- 
ment of gospel institutions was made a primary object. Pub- 
lic worship was held for the first few years at the ordinary of 
Thomas Baker, for the use of which he received eighteen 
pence a week. In 1652 a meeting-house was erected. This 
primitive temple was 20 by 26 feet on the ground, with posts 
eight feet high, and the roof was covered with straw. In 
1651 the salary of Rev Thomas James, the first minister, was 
fixed by the town at £45 a year "and his lands to be rate 
free." It was also specified by an order of the town that '-'his 
grain should be first ground at the mill on the 2d day of 
every week. His salary was afterwards raised to £60 a year. 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 405 

The town was incorporated under the colonial government 
of New York by a patent from Gov. Nicoll granted to John 
Mulford, Thomas Baker, Thomas Chatfield, Jeremiah Conck- 
lyn, Stephen Hedges, Thomas Osborne, Sen'r, and John 
Osborne, and their associates, on the 13th of March, 1CG6. 

A second patent confirming the first, was granted by Gov. 
Dongan, Dec. 9, 1686, in which Eev. Thomas James, Lieut. 
John Wheeler, Capt. Josiah Hobart, Ensign Thomas Tall- 
mage, Samuel Mulford, Thomas Chatfield, Sen.. Jeremiah 
Conkling, Steven Hand, Robert Dayton, Thomas Baker, and 
Thomas Osborn w ere designated as patentees, and by which 
the freeholders and inhabitants were made a body corporate 
and politic forever, for an annual quit-rent of one lamb, or 
the value thereof in money. 

That fearless and independent spirit which the early inhab- 
itants frequently manifested is shown in the following order, 
occasioned by the call of Gov. Dongan for a general assembly 
of representatives from the towns. The Capt. Young spoken 
of was the high sheriff of Yorkshire, through whom the 
call was transmitted. 

"Sept. 24, 1683.— Town chose Thomas Tallmage, John 
Wheeler, Samuel Mulford, and Steve a Hand to join Southold 
in selecting representatives for this riding to meet at York, 
according to order. The town have likewise desired Mr. 
James to go with our men, and advise with them in our con- 
cerns, who are to stand up in the assembly, for maintaining 
our privileges and English liberties, and especially against 
any writ going in the Duke's name, but only in his Majesty's, 
whom only we own as our sovereign. Also, in the town's 
name, to certify Capt. Young, that they do not send these 



406 TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 

men in obedience to his warrant, but because they would not 
neglect any opportunity to assert their own liberties." 

The people of Easthampton, isolated as they have been to 
a great extent from intimate relations with the outside world, 
have always preserved the lines of character drawn by the 
original planters more perfectly than the people of any other 
town. ' In their opinions, feelings and customs, they 
have always been remarkably unanimous. This unity of sen- 
timent and action extends to political as well as to religious or 
social matters. Town elections have frequently returned a 
unanimous vote, and there is hardly an instance on record 
even down to the j)resent time, where the people were much 
divided on any important subject. For more than two hun- 
dred years there was but one church in the town, and but few 
representatives of any other denomination than the " stand- 
ing order " among the inhabitants. 

At the commencement of the Revolution the people of this 
town were unanimous in their adherence to the cause of 
liberty. In June 1775 an " Association " was formed in sup- 
port of the measures of the Continental Congress, and its 
articles were signed by every male inhabitant capable of bear- 
ing arms, numbering altogether two hundred and fifty-three, 
among whom were John Chatfield, Col. Abram Gardi- 
ner, Burnet Miller, Rev. Samuel Buel, and Thomas Wickham. 

Gardiner's Island, called by the Indians Monchonock, or 
Mashongomuc, and by the early English settlers the Isle of 
Wight, lies on the eastern border of Gardiner's Bay, three 
and a half miles northeast from the main land of this town. 
It contains about three thousand three hundred acres, chiefly 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 407 

devoted to grazing and stock raising purposes. The soil is 
good and the surface undulating. 

This island was purchased of the agent of Earl Stirling 
March 10, 1639, by Lyon Gardiner, he having purchased the 
Indian claim, for which he paid a few blankets, a dog, a gun, 
some ammunition and some rum. He also agreed to pay to 
the representative of Earl Stirling £5 a year if demanded, 
which arrangement probably did not continue but a few years 
at the most. A patent was granted by Gov. Nicoll to David 
Gardiner Oct. 5, 1665, and the quit-rent which was then fixed 
again at £5 a year was afterward commuted by Gov. Lovelace 
in 1671 for one lamb yearly. The island remained an inde- 
pendent plantation until 1680, when it was annexed to the 
town of Easthampton. The settlement of Mr. Gardiner here, 
in 1639 was the first English settlement within the limits of 
the present State of New York. The island has passed down 
from generation to generation to the present time in the pos- 
session of his lineal descendants. 

Lyon Gardiner was a man of considerable ability, energy 
and enterprise, and evidently possessed a character in which 
the noblest qualities of man were well developed. No doubt 
the happy relations which existed between the settlers of this 
town and the Indians were in a great measure due to the 
friendship and confidence which he by his acts of kindness 
and consideration had inspired in the hearts of the natives. 
Among his townspeople he held a very prominent position. 
He died in 1663, and his descendants at the present day are 
among the most substantial and respected inhabitants of 
Easthampton. 

In the summer of 1699 William Kidd, the notorious pirate, 



408 TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 

on his way to Boston, landed at Gardiner's Island and depos- 
ited there a box of gold, silver, and precious stones which 
he had taken during his plundering expedition on the high 
seas. The place of this deposit was made known to the 
owner of the Island who was restrained from exposing the 
secret under penalty of death. Kidd had been sent out in 
1696 in command of a vessel fitted out to defend the com- 
merce of all nations against the ravages of pirates who in- 
fested the seas. He was at first very successful in the under- 
taking and his movements elicited the plaudits of those who 
looked upon him as their protector and friend. But his thirst 
for plunder soon swallowed up whatever principle of justice 
or desire for honorable distinction he ever had, and instead 
of a defender of commerce he became its greatest enemy. 
On his arrival at Boston, Kidd was seized by the authorities 
and sent to England, where he was tried and hung in May 
1701. When he was arrested, among the papers found in his 
possession was an account of the . deposits he had made in 
different places, and the Governor of Massachusetts ap- 
pointed commissioners to secure the hidden treasures. In 
the discharge of their duty these commissioners visited Gar- 
diner's Island and secured the spoils there buried. 

This island is of very irregular shape, and including its 
long arms it extends from north to south a distance of about 
six miles. It contains a number of creeks and ponds, and a 
considerable part of it consists of woodlands and meadows. 
A light-house standing upon the extreme northern point was 
built in 1855. The tower is twenty-seven feet high, and it 
gives a fixed light, twenty-nine feet above water, and visible 
sixmiles distant. 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 409 

A small part of the village of Sag Harbor extends into the 
northwest corner of this town, but as that village has been 
noticed under the head of Southampton we pass it in this 
connection. 

About three miles east of that point is a scattered settle- 
ment called Northwest, containing perhaps twenty houses, 
and a district school. It lies near the shore of Northwest 
Harbor, in the neighborhood of a creek of the same name 
which extends inland from that water about one and a half 
miles. The locality is infested by low sandy hills, and several 
ponds lie in the vicinity. 

Wainscott is a hamlet of about thirty houses, lying on the 
sea-shore in the extreme southwest corner of this town. The 
people are mostly farmers and mechanics. An ancient 
burying-ground and a district school are located near the 
centre of the neighborhood. This settlement being on the 
border of Southampton town may be considered as a tribu- 
tary to Bridgehampton, about two miles northwest, with 
which it is most intimately connected in its church and 
postal relations. 

The village of Easthampton, reveling in its antiquity and 
abounding with historical associations to a greater extent 
than any other village within the range of these sketches, 
occupies a moderately fertile plain near the sea-shore, four 
miles east of the town line and twenty miles west of Mon- 
tauk Point. 

It has for several years been growing in popular impro- 
tance as a sea-side resort, and during the heated season is 
visited by thousands, who seek retirement for a while from 
the wearing scenes of city life. The hotel accommodations 



410 TOWN OF EASTIIAMPTON. 

are however very imperfect. There is not in fact a single 
hotel or boarding-house of any considerable size in the place. 
To make up for this deficiency almost every private house 
becomes temporarily a boarding house, and even then the 
accommodations are not sufficient to answer the demand. 
Here is certainly a splendid opening for a few mammoth 
hotels similar to those we find in some localities where the 
necessity is not half as great. With the establishment of 
these, and some improvement in the means of access, East- 
hampton must become one of the most desirable watering 
places on the Long Island coast. The present means of 
communication are tedious stage routes connecting with 
railroad or steamboat at Sag Harbor, seven miles northwest, 
or with railroad at Bridgehampton, about same distance west. 
The main part of the village lies upon the sides of a singla 
street, a mile and a half in length and running in a north- 
easterly direetion from a point about half a mile from the 
ocean. This street is level, of great width, and most of the 
way is lined with massive shade trees, whose wide spreading 
branches hover over the spacious walks that run along its 
borders. 

The village has a population of about six hundred, and 
contains two churches, an academy and three stores, one of 
the latter, displaying the sign of A. M. Payne, being one of 
the largest country stores on the island. Most of the habi- 
tations are large farm-houses, many of which are thickly 
embowered in foliage, and some of them bearing evidence of 
considerable antiquity. There are also several handsome 
residences surrounded hy spacious grounds, richly orna- 
mented with trees and shrubbery. Two windmills are located 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 411 

at the north end of the village, and another at the south end. 
Near the former is a district school and a burying-ground. 
Near the latter is another, more ancient depository of the 
dead, embracing several acres, and containing a number of 
handsome monuments. This was the first burying-ground 
established in the town, and it contains the graves of many 
of the original inhabitants, among which is that of the Rev. 
Thomas James, the first minister, who died in 1696, and at 
his own request was buried on the east side of the plot, with 
his head to the eastward, so that when the trumpet of Gabriel 
should call forth the sleeping dead he might rise facing his 
congregation. One of the largest monuments here preserves 
the memory of David Gardiner, who died Feb. 28, 1844: in the 
sixtieth year of his age. " In the vigor of a life adorned by 
eminent virtues, solid abilities, and rare accomplishments, 
beloved and venerated, he was stricken with instant death by 
the bursting of the great gun on board of the steam frigate 
Princeton, on the river Potomac ; a national calamity which 
wrung many hearts, and deprived the country of some of its 
most distinguished and valuable citizens." This monument 
is about five feet square at the base, and twenty feet high. 
The sailors monument, an object of much interest to the 
visitor, stands in the north end of the enclosure. This is 
about twelve feet high, the base four feet square, and con- 
tains the following inscription : — " This stone was erected 
by individual subscriptions from various places to mark the 
spot where with peculiar solemnity were deposited the mortal 
remains of the three mates and eighteen of the crew of the 
ship John Milton of New Bedford wrecked on the coast of 
Montauk while returning from the Chincha Islands on tho 



412 TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 

20, February, 1858, when, together with those who rest be- 
neath, Ephriam Harding the Captain and four others of the 
mariners, being the whole ship's company, were drowned in 
the waves." The ship "John Milton " was a vessel of 1,445 
tons, loaded with guano, and came ashore in a snow storm at 
a point about five miles west of Montauk Lighthouse. The 
bodies of the men washed ashore and were brought hither 
and buried by the hand of sympathizing strangers. An ap- 
propriate funeral sermon was delivered on the occasion by 
the Kev. Stephen L. Mershon. 

This grave-yard as well as the one at the north end of the 
village was first established in the middle of the broad high- 
way, and for many years was allowed to remain unfenced. 
Both are now enclosed by neat fences, allowing ample room 
for highways on either side. 

The first civilized settlement of this town was made in the 
neighborhood of a pond which lies adjoining the burying- 
ground at the south end of the village. 

The first church was erected in this village in L652, four 
years after the settlement was commenced. This church was 
covered with thatch and as we have previously stated its 
dimensions were twenty by twenty-six feet, with posts eight 
feet high. It was enlarged and repaired in 1673, and again 
in 1698. It stood on the south end burying ground. A new 
church was commenced in 1717, on a site further up the 
street, and finished in the year following. At that time it 
was probably the largest and finest one on the island. It was 
furnished with a bell and a clock, and some years afterward a 
second gallery, above the first was added to its interior. In 
1823 it was repaired and reconstructed. It was torn down in 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 413 

1871, after standing a period of one hundred and fifty-four 
years. This church was occupied by the Presbyterian de- 
nomination. 

The present Presbyterian church, a large and handsome 
building was erected in 1861 at a cost of $13,500. It contains 
a bell and clock. 

St. Luke's Episcopal chapel, a structure of less dimensions, 
but neat proportions, was built in 1859. 

Clinton Academy is an ancient looking structure built part 
of wood and part of brick, with gambrel roof and dormer 
windows, standing on the street directly opposite where the 
old church stood. This institution was founded in 1784, 
through the efforts of Rev. Dr. Buel, and Mr. William Payne, 
the latter of whom was the first teacher. It was named in 
honor of Gov. George Clinton, by whom it was presented 
with a bell. It has the honor of having been one of the first 
two academies chartered by the Regents of the University of 
this State, and the bill adopting the system by which that 
board was authorized was introduced in the state legislature 
upon a petition from the Academy, and prominently sup- 
ported by Hon. Ezra L'Hommedieu of this county, who was 
at that time in the senate. 

John Howard Payne, a dramatist of considerable merit, 
and author of the immortal poem, "Home, Sweet Home,'* 
was a native of this village and son of Mr. William Payne 
spoken of above. The home of his childhood, a modest, 
time beaten cottage standing beside the Academy building, 
is pointed out to the stranger as one of the many interesting 
objects which this place affords. 



411 TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 

The "Hook Pond " is a narrow sheet of water about a mile 
in length lying behind the beach hills just below the village. 

About two miles west of here and near the settlement of 
"Wainscott is another larger body of water called Georgica 
Pond, sometimes connected with the ocean. Three men, 
Joseph E. Stratton, Zebedee Osborn, and John Hoppin were 
drowned in crossing the outlet, in 1714, and four others were 
drowned in the pond in 1719. A bridge which formed the 
connecting link across it, on a desirable route between 
Bridgehamp^on and Easthampton was constructed a few years 
ago, but has been washed away. The town poor house was 
located on the main road near the head of this pond. 

About three miles northeast from this village is a body of 
water several miles in extent, called Three Mile Harbor, con- 
nected by a narrow inlet with Gardiner's Bay. 

About a mile east of this is a neat little settlement of sixty 
houses called The Springs, having a store, a post-office, and a 
district school, of about ninety scholars. This village lies 
near Acabonac Harbor, which latter is an irregular body of 
shoal water straggling into the eastern shore of this main- 
land. The surface is level ; the soil a sandy loam ; and the 
people mostly farmers and fishermen. A part of the neigh- 
borhood is known by the local name of Eire Place. 

Amagansett, retaining the Indian name of the locality, is a 
village of three hundred and fifty inhabitants, lying near the 
ocean. It occupies one mile in length on a single street, is 
beautifully located, three miles east of Easthampton, and is 
the easternmost village on this branch of the island. It has 
two churches, two stores, a district school of seventy scholars, 
and a wind grist-mill. An ancient grave-yard is located in 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 415 

the eastern part. Settlement is supposed to have commenced 
here but a few years after the first settlement of the town. 
The soil in the neighborhood is a dark rich loam, and the 
inhabitants are mostly farmers. A Methodist Episcopal, 
church was erected in this village inl847. It stands in the 
western part. A Presbyterian church was built here in 18G0. 

Proceeding eastward from Amagansett we enter immedi- 
ately upon the dreary waste of Napeague Beach, where this 
part of the island is narrowed down to a width of about one 
mile by an abrupt advance of the water upon the north 
side. This beach varying in width from one to two miles 
extends east a distance of about five miles and forms the 
connecting link between the main island and the peninsula 
of Montauk. It is a low sandy isthmus containing an occa- 
sional patch of grass or bushes. A remarkable phenomenon 
is presented in the fact that during warm weather this region 
is infested by myriads of musquitoes, while a few miles beyoud, 
upon Montauk, neither mnsquitoes nor flies are ever known. 

The peninsula of Montauk, containing about nine thousand 
acres occupies the eastern extremity of the south branch of 
Long Island. It is about eleven miles in length and fro.ru 
one and a half to three miles across it. The surface, elevated 
twenty to one hundred feet above the sea level, is thrown 
into countless hills and valleys, comparing veil in its undula- 
tions with the waves of the adjoining ocean. The greater 
part of it is bare of timber, and covered with a luxuriant 
growth of grass, affording excellent pasturage for stock, and 
to this purpose it is almost exclusively devoted. To the rich- 
ness of its feeding add the abundant supply of pure whole- 
some water afforded by numerous springs and ponds which 



416 TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 

are scattered over the surface ; the cool and refreshing sea 
breeze ; and the entire absence of annoying insects ; and we 
find this spot peculiarly favored for the purpose to which it 
has been appropriated for more than two hundred years. 
Animals in a very low condition turned on here are said to 
imp ove and become fat in a surprisingly short time; Only 
a small portion of the tract upon the north side is now cov- 
ered with timber. The soil is a deep, rich loam, surpassing 
in fertility almost any other section of the island. 

It is still held by the " heirs and assigns " of the original 
purchasers, in undivided shares, and the remnant of the 
Indian tribe still hold the reservation of their ancestors upon 
it. The shareholders in these Montauk lands are represented 
by a board of seven trustees in whom the management of the 
common property is vested. Three keepers are employed to 
look after the animals that are turned on here to pasture, and 
change them from one enclosure to another as occasion re- 
quires. Each keeper has the use of a house and as much 
land as he wishes to cultivate, also the privilege of pasturing 
a certain number of cattle. The houses are located about 
four miles apart. The cattle of different owners turned 
together upon this common pasture are identified by certain 
slits, nicks, punctures, and cuts, made upon the animal's 
ears ; corresponding representations of which are recorded by 
their respective owners. 

Montauk was originally bought of the Indians, between 
1GG0 and 1687, inclusive. Its purchase was made by three 
different companies, in three distinct parcels. These com- 
panies were soon after consolidated, so that the interest of 
each individual in one or more of the separate parcels was 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 417 

made to ran through the whole land, which under this 
arrangement — it is believed — was divided into forty shares, 
each share being estimated at £40. The shares of the origi- 
nal owners were unequal in value, and those interests have 
been constantly changing, by purchase and sale, by devise 
and inheritance, down to the present time so that the propri- 
etorship now lies in about eighty persons, whose interests 
vary in amount of estimate from £280 down to the fraction of 
a penny. A share or estimate of £40 is the unit of division. 
The body of proprietors have at different times bought up 
individual interests and extinguished them in the common 
ownership, and in this way the original forty shares have 
been reduced to a fraction over thirty-five. The present 
market value of an original £40 share, is about $4,400. 
These shares are divided into "eighths" which are com- 
monly reckoned in ordinary transactions. The increasing 
value of Montauk land may be seen by comparing former 
estimates with the present. In 1843 these "eighths" were 
valued at 3300, each ; in 1860 at $350 to 8400 each ; and at 
the present time these are worth, according to the estimate 
just given, $550. Each share entitles the owner to the pas- 
turage of forty-eight cattle, or six to each "eighth." One 
horse counts as two cattle, and seven sheep are allowed on 
one cattle right. The proprietors make about fifty rights for 
the keepers to improve, and allow the Indians to hire out 
what they do not require for their own cattle up to fifty. 
About fifteen hundred cattle, one hundred horses, and eight 
hundred sheep are turned on here during the season. The days 
for driving on and bringing off the animals are designated by 
the trustees, according to the exigencies of the season and 



418 TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 

the consequent state of the pasture. The season for sheep 
generally lasts from about the latter part of March to the first 
of December ; and for cattle and horses from the first of May 
to the middle of November. 

Among the numerous ponds which beautify and vary the 
scenery of Montauk, Great Pond, lying within four miles of 
the eastern extremity, is the largest. This is the largest body 
of fresh water on the island, being about two miles in length, 
and covering an area of six hundred acres. Two miles west 
of it is another considerable body of water called Fort Pond, 
by the Indians Konkhonganock. Near this is an ancient 
burial ground, once the location of the citadel or stronghold 
of the Indians. Fort Pond Bay makes a deep indentation 
upon the north shore in this vicinity, and in connection with 
the pond, nearly cuts the peninsula in two. Still further 
west, near the union with Napeague is another, yet smaller 
pond bearing the Indian name of Quannotowouk, and called 
in English Fresh Pond. An ancient fortification of the 
Indians is said to have been located near this. In the neigh- 
borhood of the ''Indian Fields," which lies upon the north 
side near the east end, are several smaller ponds among which 
are Oyster, Great Reed, Little Reed, and Money Ponds. 
Some of these are elevated several feet above the sea level, 
while others are so situated that by an unusual rising either 
of the pond or the tide they have at times been temporarily 
connected with the sea. 

All these ponds and the neighboring shores and swamps are 
frequented by great numbers of wild fowl, including geese, 
ducks, brant, plover, teal, and several other species. As a 
consequence this region is a favorite field for sportsmen, dur- 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 419 

ing the autumn months, who in the absence of any regularly 
established accommodations for visitors find temporary homes 
with the stock keepers. 

Montauk is also noted for the great numbers of fish that 
play about its shores, and are taken by those who engage in 
the exercise either for pastime or for profit. Moss bunkers, 
blue fish, bass, flounders, codfish, paugies and black fish are 
among the inhabitants of the surrounding waters. These are 
taken with nets or hook and line. Pleasure fishing is carried 
on either in surf-boats along the shore or by standing on 
the beach and throwing a squid out into the water. Some 
of the fresh water ponds are stocked with white perch. 

The shore in the neighborhood of the Point is rocky, and 
the bottom of the ocean for a long distance eastward is strewn 
with huge boulders. The supposition is favorably enter- 
tained by those who have studied the subject, that this land 
once extended nearly or quite to Block Island, which lies in 
range of the coast fourteen miles beyond. At any rate there 
is positive evidence that it extended a considerable distance 
further into the sea than it now does. The ceaseless action of 
the surf upon this point, directly exposed as it is to the angry 
beetling of the Atlantic, is slowly but surely wearing it away. 
It has been estimated that altogether about two acres of the 
surface of this peninsula is by this means torn down and 
washed away every year. The point presents a bold cliff, 
rising abruptly sixty feet or more above the water, and against 
its base the everlasting surges of the ocean are almost contin- 
ually dashing with irresistible fury. During a storm, when 
the waves, driven landward, are breaking among the rocks 



420 TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 

and thundering upon the shore, the scene presented here is 
terrific and impressively sublime. 

Fearfully interesting indeed would be the story of destruc- 
tion that has been wrought by the high carnival of ocean upon 
this wild forbidding shore. Fragments of wrecks, embedded 
in the sand, are scattered at short intervals along the beach* 
reminding us how the mad waves make play-things of the 
noblest works of man. Of the numerous ship-wrecks that 
have occurred here but few happily have been to very great 
extent destructive of human life. The most disastrous in this 
respect, of any of which we have learned was the wreck of the 
ship "John Milton," in 1858, some particulars of which have 
been given in connection with Easthampton, where most of 
the unfortunate crew were buried. Many reminiscences of 
brave deeds and hair-breadth escapes might be given in 
connection with the story of suffering, death, and destruction 
which the history of these casualties would reveal. The line 
of kfe saving stations which extends along the whole south 
coast of Long Island terminates at this point. 

Montauk light-house stands upon "Turtle Hill," the ex- 
treme point of the peninsula, called by the Indians Wampon- 
amon. It was built in 1795, and cost $22,500. The tower is 
eighty-five feet high, built of stone, the walls of which were 
afterward lined with brick. The height of the lantern above 
the sea level is one hundred and sixty feet. It has a " Fren- 
sel " lens of the first order, and gives a flashing light appear- 
ing every two minutes, visible twenty nautical miles distant, 
and under favorable circumstar c 3S several miles further. 

Wrapt in a halo of solitude, Montauk sleeps peacefully amid 
its wild surroundings, and dreams of its un-written tragedies, 



TOWN OF EASTHAMHTON. 421 

its un-told legends, its forgotten history of unknown ages past. 
A. little more than two hundred years ago it was part and 
parcel of the common wilderness, and in common with the 
whole land was the home of the American savage. The hand 
of civilization came and spangled the neighboring wilderness 
with cities, towns, and villages. Before its transforming 
influence the savage nation was driven far into the western 
wilds, and the evidences of savage life gradually faded out. 
But, like a magnificent dissolving view, as the traces of savage 
life disappeared from the scene, the outlines of civilized life 
were developed and intensified. Wigwams gave place to 
cottages, farm-houses, and mansions ; church spires out- 
stripped in their upward progress the smoke of Indian war- 
fires ; hunting grounds were changed to smiling farms and 
gardens ; and as if by magic the few and simple accessories of 
the native dispensation vanished before the hand of the 
white man. But while that hand, skilled in the arts which 
had been for centuries developing, and propelled by the 
enterprise which grew out of religious persecution, has been 
busy scattering cities, towns, and villages, churches, schools, 
railroads and manufactories over the broad face of a conti- 
nent, this spot, situated for two hundred years in the very 
midst of these transformation scenes, and only one hundred 
and twenty miles from the great focal centre of the dissolving 
view, has remained to the present time with scarcely a mark 
of improvement upon its former condition. Though by 
nature blessed with advantages superior in many respects to 
other sections where Art has been lavish of its works, that 
busy hand has scarcely turned a stone, or drawn a line, or 
left a finger mark upon this wildly beautiful peninsula. 



422 TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 

Shades of the unfathomed past hover round us as we ex- 
plore the thousand hills and valleys, up and down whose 
grassy sides the dusky monarch of Paumanacke and his nu- 
merous subjects were wont to range and ramble long years 
ago. Though now we look in vain for the Indian warrior 4n 
his primitive glory, yet so little change has been wrought in 
the field of his former dominion that we may still behold, 
with very slight variations, the same picture that greeted the 
eyes of the first European immigrants. The history of this 
romantic spot since it passed under the control of the white 
settlers is but little more than a monotonous blank. Across 
this void we naturally look with curious eye to inquire into 
the history of that period of aboriginal occupancy which 
immediately preceded it. 

In answer to this inquiry we learn that at the time the 
island was settled by Europeans, this peninsula was the home 
of a numerous and powerful tribe of Indians called the Mon- 
tauketts. They had conquered, and then held under tribute 
all the othei tribes of the island except the Canarsees at the 
west end ; and themselves were under tribute to the Pequots 
across the sound. At that time Wyandanch was Sachem of 
the Montauketts and Grand Sachem of the island. The 
settlers, not only of this but of other towns as well, were 
anxious to secure the signature of this dignitary to their pur- 
chase deeds, in addition to those of the sachems of the re- 
spective tribes from whom their land was purchased. 

The Montauketts were supposed to have distinguished 
themselves by their valor and warlike achievements, and were 
frequently involved in wars with the neighboring tribes of tha 
main. 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 423 

Wyandanch appears always to have been the unwavering 
friend of the white settlers, and on this account had incurred 
the wrathful hatred of Ninicraft, Sachem of the Narragan- 
setts. That sachem had attempted to secure the co-opera- 
tion of Wyandanch in exterminating the then feeble settle- 
ments of the whites, but the latter refused to join him, and 
moreover exposed his plots to the English. In consequence 
of this, Ninicraft opened war upon the jMontauketts, which 
continued several years, and nearly destroyed that once power- 
ful tribe. This was commenced about the year 1652. In one 
of their raids upon the Montauketts during this siege, the 
Narragansetts captured among others the only daughter of 
Wyandanch. The assault was made while the sachem and his 
friends were celebrating the marriage of that daughter, and 
when the assailants departed with their spoil the newly made 
bridegroom lay upon the bloody field, one of their slaugh- 
tered victims. Lyon Gardiner afterward rescued the daughter 
of Wyandanch from her captors, and restored her to the 
bosom of her father, in return for which the latter gave Mr. 
Gardiner a deed for a tract of land which now forms a part of 
the territory of Smithtown. During the latter part of the 
year 1658 the Montauketts, already very much weakened by 
this protracted war, were still further reduced by a fearful 
epidemic which is said to have carried to the grave more than 
half their numbers. About this time [in 1659] Wyandanch 
died from the effects of poison, secretly administered. After 
his death the royal supremacy of the Montauketts, as well 
as their numerical force began rapidly to decline. In fact the 
decline had set in before his death took place. Wyandanch 
was the last monarch of the Long Island savages who appear3 



424 TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 

to have been worthy of that name, or even held the reins to 
any considerable extent. After his death the sceptre fell to 
his widow Wiccnitaubit, styled the Sachem Squa, and his son 
Weoncombone, who jointly exercised authority for a few years. 
The latter, being at the time of his father's death under the 
age of legal maturity, Lyon Gardiner was appointed and acted 
as guardian for him. The Sachem Squa died in 1660, and the 
exercise of royal authority fell upon Weoncombone who was 
then nineteen years of age. In 1662 he died of small pox, as 
also it is supposed his sister did, and so the royal family of 
Wyandanch was exterminated. Thus the ravages of war and 
pestilence compelled the surviving numbers of the tribe to 
forsake their houses and flee for protection to the settlements 
of their white neighbors. They were kindly received, and in 
return gave liberal grants of pasture privileges to their bene- 
factors, and finally conveyed to them their land, reserving 
only such claims as their necessities demanded. And had it 
not been for those reserved claims which have passed down 
through their posterity to the present day, the royal Montauk- 
etts, like the dispersed Israelites, or most of the other tribes 
of the island would long since have been scattered abroad, with 
out a home, or a place, or a name. The remnant of this 
tribe, now occupying the land of their ancestors numbers 
eight adults — four males and four females — and about the 
same number of children. 



SHE END. 



Letter from Dr. Edgar F. Peck of Brooklyn, 



A SHORT HISTORY OF LAKELAND. 



To R. M. Bayles y Esq.: 

As my name for more than thirty years past has been ex- 
tensively before the public, in connection with ' ' the Plains 
or Barrens " of Long Island, and as I have therewith been 
very greatly misunderstood and misrepresented, either in 
ignorance or by design, I propose to state as briefly and as 
plainly as I can the leading facts as to the time and manner 
of my journey in the wilderness of Long Island. Up to the 
spring of 1841 I did not know that there was any land, or any 
considerable portion of land on Long Island that could be 
cultivated but what had been cultivated. Then in 1841 I re- 
moved from New York to Smithtown. on the place formerly 
occupied by Rev. Dr. Pillsbury, when my attention was 
directed to these lands, and where during a residence there of 
nearly six years I had full opportunity to become acquainted 
with the lands and the country, and during the summers of 
1841, '42 and '43 I carefully examined the soil, geology and 
natural productions on both sides of the Long Island Bail- 
road from East New York to Ronkonkoina Pond, and more 
than fifty square miles of the land in the towns of Islip and 
Brookhaven, I found that those lands — "those vast tracts" 
called the "plain's" or "barrens," — did not differ in soil and 
geology, at all, from the cultivated lands on their borders, 
that the soil was not, and is not destitute of any of the sup- 
porters of vegetation and was and is suitable in every way 
for culture. 



11 LETTER FEOM DE. PECK. 

After the opening of the railroad into those condemned 
regions, I purchased of the late Harvey W. Vail a tract of a 
few hundred acres at Suffolk Station, under the advice and 
encouragement of the late George B. Fiske then President of 
the L. I. R. R. Company. This purchase was made with and 
for no speculative purpose or object, but expressly for my 
own use and intended occupancy. I intended to associate a 
few friends with me in a private way who would improve the 
land by building upon it and clearing it up, but the men 
that I associated with me at that early period, proved 
utterly faithless and false. Mr. Fiske's health failed him, he 
left the road, and soon alter died, whereby I was deprived of 
his aid and favor. These unfortunate circumstances at the 
very outset, rendered it impossible for me to do, even in a 
very moderate way, what I desired to do towards forming a 
settlement there, the local obstacles were so great, so formida- 
ble that my early plans were frustrated. I hoped these diffi- 
culties might be overcome, or removed, the chief of which was 
I did not own — nor could it ever be purchased" for less than 
three times its fair market value — a portion of the land abso- 
lutely needed for the settlement on the south side of the R. 
R. track. I could not and would not improve land that I did 
not own and could not buy. The continued refusal of the 
owner of this land to improve it or to allow it to be improved, 
alone prevented all settlement there, and that place remains 
desolate to the present day from the same cause that existed 
then. 

After I had thus become involved, and burdened with the 
land, instead of abandoning the whole matter, as I ought to 
have done, and submitted to the first loss, I hoped to see 
the obstacles removed, and I continued to exert myself to 
induce new purchasers and finding that nobody else moved in 
the matter of inviting or encouraging settlement, or in offer- 
ing the land for sale, I endeavored to bring in new owners 
and new interests, and for that purpose and for nothing 
else, not for anything that could be made on the land pur- 
chases, I purchased by contract most of the land between 
Thompson and Suffolk Stations, of N. O. Clock and F. M. A. 
Wicks. The land on which Brentwood is, was a tract of 
something over lour hundred acres which I purchased of Mr. 
Wicks, without the wood for $2.75 per acre, and under my 
contracts the land was sold and conveyed to New York men, 
to J. E. Johnson, H. I Wheeler, Uel West, Nathan Stephens, 
Christopher Wray, J. Agate, R. J. Richards, S. P. Townsend, 



LETTEK FEOM DK. PECK. lli 

and others, and it was expected that nearly all of these pur- 
chasers would make some improvements on it, but with a 
single exception they did not, because they were advised by 
those who professed to know better than I did that the land 
was not worth improving, and it was not until the land had 
passed through several hands, and several years after, that any 
considerable improvement was made on it. My old friend the 
late Samuel Fleet, then Editor of the Am. Artisan (not the 
paper now published by that name) rendered through his 
paper, essential service in miking these sales. My purchases 
gave the first market value to these lands, that they ever had 
beyond the value ef the wood on them. The Rev. Mr. 
Prime says in his history of L. I. at page 60: — "The only 
value attached to these vast tracts of land, is derived from 
the timber they bear, and when this is destroyed, they be- 
come absolutely worthless, at least to the present generation." 
and at page 19 he says, "about forty miles from the west 
end (that is about where Brentwood stands) the sand increases 
in fineness, even in some places to fluidity for there is no soil. " 
Mr. Thompson says in his history at page 29, that it 
"is a vast tract of barren land, so entirely composed of sand, 
as to be unsusceptible of profitable cultivation by any process 
at present known." 

Up to 1848, nothing had been effected toward making 
any settlement, or improvements upon these lands, notwith- 
standing the sales herein before mentioned. Only one 
small house had been erected on the lands thus sold: that 
was on the N. O. Clock land, north of the R. R. I then 
proposed to the L. I. R. R. Co. that I would purchase a 
tract of land on their road, near Ronkonkoma and make an 
agricultural settlement, if they, the Company would aid and 
promote it by the carrying of freight ancf passengers, for the 
settlement, which they agreed to do, and acting under this 
agreement of promised aid, I purchased of Win. H. Ludlow 
in the year 1848, about eight thousand acres of land, at 
prices from five dollars per acre to thirty dollars per acre : 
for about six thousand nine hundred and fifty acres, $34,- 
750 ; for two hundred acres, 830 per acre ; for one hundred 
acres, $20 per acre ; making $8000 for three hundred acres 
between the Railroad and Ronkonkoma Pond; and a'>out 
one thousand acres west of this last named lot and north of 
the R. R. , at $10 per acre. This last lot was purchased by 
contract (I did not take the deed for this lot,) and a little over 
two thousand acres lying to the west of Connetquot Brook 



iV LETTER FKOM DR. PECS. 

of Wm. Nicoll, for $12000. These large purchases amount- 
ing to over $00,000, were all on a cash basis, no trade or 
sham about it, and all bearing interest at 6 per cent, payable 
yearly, from date of sale, secured by mortgage, the " death 
gage'''' or "dead pledge" which may take away a man's life 
hj taking away the means he has to live. The land inclu- 
ded in the purchase was then the darkest and most deso- 
late of all those regions. It was as dark and as black, as the 
ace of spades, as a most distructive fire had run over it in the 
month of August 1848 ; had burnt for two weeks and burnt 
over about seventy -five square miles. 

I then proceeded to make improvements, and show what 
the land would produce, and the mode of clearing it. I 
erected buildings at the Kailroad depot, laid out Ocean Ave- 
nue and opened it, at my own expense, procured from Bug- 
gies, Nourse & Mason of Worcester, Mass., the best plows 
and agricultural implements then known, purchased three 
yoke of oxen for the purpose of breaking up the land with 
the plow, instead of the old slow and expensive mode of 
grubbing it out by hand, and the work on the land was en- 
tirely successful. The force of only two yoke of oxen was 
required to break up the roughest land, and the crops of the 
garden, and field were of the finest kind. All of this work 
and outlay was done under great disadvantages, my builders 
and most of my workmen were hired in Brooklyn, and I had 
to pay full wages, from the time they left home until their 
return ; had to hire Mr. John Newton at the Pond, to board 
them, and to carry them to and from their work with his 
wagon, as it was too far to walk. Now just as all this outlay 
and labor was completed, and everything in a favorable con- 
dition to proceed with the settlement, the L. I. R. R. Co. 
failed, and the road and all its affairs, rights and franchises, 
property and interests, passed into the hands of a Receiver, 
appointed by the Supreme Court, and the Receiver acting 
under the sage advice of ono " Robert Schuyler," then a sort 
of railroad king, and an officer in the Brooklyn and Jaruaica 
Railroad Co. , the Plaintiff in this disgraceful and damaging 
affair, and which brought my matters at Lakeland to a stand. 

I could not give the privileges and facilities to settlers, 
which in my advertisements, I had proposed to give, because 
the Railroad and the Receiver refused to comply with theii 
promise and I had not only to withdraw my advertisements, 
out to pay damages, in some cases, for my promises made 
on the faith of my agreement with the Railroad. 



LETTER FROM DR. PECK. V 

The effect of this Railroad failure, was extremely damag- 
ing to the road and everything connected with it. Its stock 
was knocked down to six or seven dollars a share, and reports 
were circulated by designing men, that the road was ruined 
and would never recover, and this affected me most seriously, 
for nobody would invest money in the lands on its borders, 
and the whole matter fell upon me with crushing weight. I 
made every effort to remove the obstacles, and to go on with 
my work in a manner satisfactory to me but I could not, for the 
ndverse parties would concede nothing. I had up to this time 
[1851] from 1848, laid out in improvements, and paid out upon 
iiind about $15,000 in cash upon the Lakeland settlement. I 
had paid Mr. Ludlow for more than fifteen hundred acres 
of the land for which I had taken from him a clear title 
mnking the payments to him more than $8,500 in cash. 

I don't speak of an outlay of fifteen thousand dollars in 
money as being a very extraordinary matter, under other 
circumstances and in common business matters, but an out- 
lay of that amount a quarter of a century ago, in such a re- 
gion, on such kind of property, and under such circumstances, 
was not a common affair, on the representative land of 
nearly half a million of acres set down and written down, 
by common consent as barren and utterly worthless; and the 
sum of fifteen thousand dollars was more money than the 
whole tract purchased of Mr. Ludlow could have been sold 
for in cash to any man, or men in the world, other than my- 
self. The late Judge Selah B. Strong said I had given from 
three to five times more than I ought to have given for it, 
and the late Benj. F. Thompson, author of the History of L. 
I. , said it was not worth over two dollars an acre, and that he 
regarded it as the most worthless and unproductive property 
in the State of New York. I paid and caused to be paid, by 
providing for the payment, all the large sums herein before 
named, to the uttermost farthing, with interest, and in some 
cases large, heavy and oppressive costs. Under the pressure 
and embarrassments brought upon the settlement by the 
Railroad failure, for so far as myself and the work I had 
undertaken to do, the road might as well have ceased to run, 
for I could not use it. I sold out the entire property in 1851, 
to Chas. Wood of New York. I supposed he was an honest 
man, and as the outlay and labor had been made to start the 
settlement, it could be continued with much less trouble and 
cost than I had had, and about the time of the sale, the Railroad 
prospects bjgan to be better. I thought I had done my part, 



VI LETTER FEOM DB. PECK. 

had done enough to show that the land could be cultivated, 
coul dbe used for garden and farm purposes. My titles were 
all good, I never gave or offered to give, or ever thought of 
giving a bad or defective title, and I refer to the records of 
Suffolk County, to show that my titles to Wood were good, 
just what they purported to be. In proof of this I offer the 
following letter of Mr. Young a resident of Lakeland. 

Lakeland, L. I., June 30th, 1868. 

To De. Edgab E. Peck, 

Deab Sib : 

Your favor of the 10th of May last was duly rec eived. Se- 
rious indisposition, together with a pressure of business, has 
prevented an earlier attention to the subject of your not \ 

To your first question, "Will you have the kindness to 
inform me if, in your examination of the Charles Wood land 
titlth at Lakeland, you find anything on the Record, or eise- 
whei' , to connect me or my name, with any of .Wood's defec- 
tive or imperfect titles ? " 

I answer, No. I have made very extensive examination of 
the Records of Suifolk County ; in fact, from the. date of 
Wood's first purchase up to 1857, and have in no case found 
any sale made by you to Wood that did not fully and prop- 
erly describe the land then sol 1, and in all cases wh ere there 
was any incumbrance on the land thus sold to Wood, such 
incumbrance was fully stated in the deed of conveyance, and 
the payment of such incumbrance assumed by Wood. 

To your second question, " How long have you resided at 
Lakeland, and have you spent much time in the Suffolk 
County Clerk's office ? " 

I have lived at Lakeland since the month of October, 1854-. 
I spent six months at one time, and several weeks at intervals 
in the Clerk's office at Riverhead ; the entire time occupied 
in searches in relation to the Wood titles. 

I have read your published description of the soil at Lake- 
land and its vicinity and fully concur with you in an appreci- 
ation of the capacity of the soil for agricultural pui poses. 
Respectfully yours, 

J. C. YOUNG. 

Having said something of what I did on the land, I propose 
to say something of what I did for the land. After having 
carefully examined it, and satisfied myself fully of its fitness 
for use and culture, I called to my aid some of the best agri- 



LETTER FROM DR. PECK. Vll 

cultural men in this State. I said, "Go and examine the 
lands and see for yourselves ; " and in every instance where it 
was examined by these men they sustained me and my views 
as to the fitness and value of the land for culture, and said 
they, "To bring it into use and culture would be a matter of 
great public good." I brought the subject before the Ameri- 
can Institute, and a committee was appointed to examine the 
lands, and their report was extensively published in New 
York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington. I advertised 
and published the lands extensively and at great cost, in the 
following agricultural papers : The Albany Cultivator, the 
Boston Cultivator, the New England Farmer, the Hartford 
Homestead, the Genesee Farmer, the Rural New Yorker, 
and also in the London Times, and Mark Lane Express, two of 
the most influential papers in England ; and I wrote more 
than three thousand letters in answer to correspondents in 
most or nearly all the States of the Union, in Canada and in 
England. By all these correspondents there was a general 
expression of a wish or desire to come and settle on Long 
Island, or near New York. Men came in scores to see and to 
look for themselves. "Why didn't they buy?" Simply 
because the living, moving witnesses that bore false testi- 
mony against the land — the old hereditary prejudices — 
swore it down,' and insisted on and persisted in its utter 
worthlessness. "'What! — Come here to buy such stuff as 
this? We know all about it, — we have lived here long 
enough to know that it is utterly worthless." That cry is 
kept up to the present day, although not quite to the extent 
that it was formerly. The land is no better to-day than it 
was thirty years ago. It was good enough then, and it is 
good enough now.. All that it needs is common cultivation. 

I have reason to believe that some good resulted from all 
this, and I feel and know that I am not in any way, directly 
or indirectly, responsible for any evil done to property or 
persons — that I never received a dollar, nor a farthing in 
money, from any man or woman, dead or alive, on any land 
sale or contract that I did not fulfill in every particular ; and 
it is rather a curious fact that all the settlements along the 
line of the railroad, from Deer Park to Waverly, are on land 
that I brought into the market and sold or caused to be sold, 
and made by men that I introduced and persuaded to pur- 
chase there. I introduced Mr. McCotter, W. J. Spence, 
Mr. Bridger, Mr. Richardson whose nursery is at Brentwood, 
and many others. Mr. Charles Wilson purchased at Deer 



V11I LETTER FROM DR. RECK. 

Park on the strength of the report made upon the land by 
the American Institute. The only Long Island man that I 
could ever inspire with any faith in the .land was my old 
neighbor G. K. Hubbs, of Smithtown, and I am glad to say 
he has shown his faith by his works. 

At the time the place passed into the hands and possession 
of Wood, the settlement and culture of the lands there were 
deemed entirely successful, and after this I had nothing 
whatever to do with the place, or with the giving of any of 
his land titles. I advised, and earnestly urged him always to 
be especially careful of his titles, and under no circumstances 
whatever to^ allow them to become confused or entangled in 
any way, and I had every reason to believe, until quite the 
end of his career, that his business was conducted honestly, 
and if he failed, it would be an honest failure. But in this 
1 was mistaken, and wholly deceived. I had nothing to do 
with the details of his business affairs or his office, and I had 
confidence in some of those that were about him, which 
rendered the deception more complete — more fatal to me 
and my interests, — for his office proved to be a nest of 
scoundrels, a den of thieves, worse than the den of "Forty 
Thieves." and the beautiful buildings and gardens that I had 
reared in the wilderness with so much care and cost, fell into 
the hands of a set of parasites, who blighted it and accursed 
it, and it has not yet recovered from the malign influence of 
evil doers. The place has never looked as well, and does not 
now, as it did in 1851 when I unfortunately left and sur- 
rendered it into unworthy hands. It is a beautiful tract of 
land, and country, — the land itself is good, better than I 
ever claimed it to be. 

I will say now — as in justice to myself I ought to say, that 
I never have made a mis-statement or a mis-representation in 
all that I have ever said or done in relation to those lands. I 
have been most scrupulously careful to state nothing but the 
truth. 

The Eev. Mr. Prime says in his book that there were in 
1845 about 166,000 acres of cultivated land, and about 447,- 
000 acres of uncultivated land in Suffolk County, and if it 
were there then it must be there now, or nearly, for no thou- 
sands of acres have since been cleared up and cultivated. It 
was in this great wilderness that I undertook to sow good 
seed, but Satan sowed tares. He had the advantage of me — 
his forces were stronger than mine — and the land was already 
prepared for his work. 



LETTER FROM DR. PECK . iX 

I have said, and I now say, it was not a land speculation 
with me, but undertaken as an agricultural settlement, and I 
expected or hoped to be rewarded for my labor in the advance 
in value of what I intended to hold and occupy, not from 
what could be made from land sales, but to effect a settlement 
the land must have been offered for sale, and I undertook the 
thankless work. 

One thing more. I have been charged with not knowing 
what land is — that I have had no experience with it. I have 
only to say that I am fully acquainted with land and soil, and 
know well what I affirm — am thoroughly acquainted, prac- 
tically, with everything that relates to culture and tillage, and 
particularly with everything and every mode that relates to 
the clearing of new or forest land, and I assert again that those 
"vast tracts of land" are in every way — in soil, surface, and 
position, suitable and fit for cultivation, and that the time is 
not far distant when they will be changed from forests to 
fields and gardens. 

E. F. Peck, M. D. 

Brooklyn, L. L, Oct. 8, 1873. 

P. S. I have not attempted to write learnedly, but under* 
: t mdingly. E. E. P. 



LOM ISLAM) LEADER, 



THE 



LAKGEST, CHEAPEST, EE^T LOCAL NEWSPAPEE 
PUBLISHED IN SUFFOLK COUNTY. 



NEUTRAL IN POLITICS, 

INDEPENDENT IN ^ELIGBON, 

PH0f¥lPT IN BUSINESS. 



The Long Island Leader has within the short period of ono 
year acquired the 

Largest Local Circulation of any Paper in the Oounty ! 

It is non-partizan, unbiased, and gives a full report of all 
happennings worthy of note on Long Island. » 

It does not interfere with the Religious, Temperance or 
Political Principles of any person, but aims to be fair and 
just in all its criticisims, and never shrinks to strike heavily 
at fraud and deceit wherever it finds it. 

The Leader is sent out to the public on its merits as a 
Newspaper, and the publishers offer no premium pictures or 
chromo humbugs to make it worth the price asked for it. 

Its unparalleled growth and popularity, its freedom from 
prejudice, and the respect which v has won for its fearless 
attitude and independent spirit, makes it the best advertising 
medium as well as the most acceptable local newspaper pub- 
lished on the Island. 

Published at Port Jefferson, every Saturday, by the 

OVERTON BEOTHERS, 

— AT — 

$2 a Year, Strictly In Advance. 
*-&-* 

.Axlvei^tisixig Terms, per Ixieli. 



l'w. I 2w. I 3 w. 1 m. 

$1.00 $1.50 J $2.00 J $2.50 



2 m. I 3 m. 
$3.25 $4.00 



6 in. I 1 year. 
$6.00 $10.00 



$ab Ifrinting in all its Brandues, 

From a Card to a Book, executed with dispatch at the lowest 
living prices. 



THE WAY TO SAVE MONET 

IS TO BUY YOUE 

GROCERIES, CANNED FRUITS, 

<&c, «&c, <&c, at the 

111 @4iH il@Sl, 

(Branch of 89 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn.) 

D. OLIVER PBTTY", 

With WHITE & REAST, 

Jflahi Street,, Port Jefferson. 

WILLIAM H. BAYLE8, 

(Successor to G. X. BENNETT,) 

DEALEE IN 

WATCHES, CLOCKS & JEWELRY, 

Silver and Plated W*a-rc 9 Spectacles 9 
Cutlery , Stencil Marking Plates, &€•, 

IVIAIN STREET, PORT JEFFERSON. 

Xjottozrizxg Done £tt Sliort INTotio©. 
Ohl Work re-plated in a superior winner. 



L. M. TOOZER, 



DEALEE IN 



MAIN STREET, 



PORT JEFFERSON, 



LONG ISLAND. 



LADIES' FINE WORK A SPECIALTY. 
i^irCixstoiii work neatly and. promptly done.t)9 



FURNITURE 

— AT— 

S. S. ACKERLY'S, 

Jttain Street, Port Jefferson 



We have the largest, and best selected stock of Parlor, 
Chamber, and Dining-Boom Furniture, Bureaus, Wash- 
stands, Tables, Lounges, Bedsteads, &c, &c, at 

NEW YOEK PRICES. 

Give us a call. Satisfaction guaranteed, or the money re- 
funded. 

THE OLDEST STORE IN THE VILLAGE ! 

DEALER IN 

Dry Goods, Groceries, Provisions, Hard- 
ware, Wooden Ware, Crockery, 

AGRICULTURAL IiyiPLEPJEIMT§,&c. 

P-+-4 

Cor. Main and Water Sts. 5 

PORT JEFFERSON, LONG BSLAND. 

► O -4 

Goods delivered free of charge to any part of the village, 
or suburbs. The first store in the village to adopt this plan. 



SELAH E. RANDALL, 
Fort Jefferson, Long island. 

DEALER IN 

DRUGS AND MEDICINES, 

CHEMICALS, 

PERFUMERY, SOAPS, 

COMBS AND BRUSHES, 

TRUSSES, SHOULDER BRACES, 

FANCY AND TOILET ARTICLES, 
BOOKS AND STATIONERY, 

FINE artOCERXES, 

PAINTS AND OILS, 
PATENT MH3I>ICI^T33S, «&e., «&e. 

PHYSICIAN'S PRESCRIPTIONS CAREFULLY PREPARED. 

J^/i&foaUi/i /tic <=£$* ti&/; 

PORT JEFFERSON, L. I. 

J. C. LEE & CO., 

Port Jefferson, Long Island-, 

DEALERS IN 

S T O "V IE 13, 

TIN WARE, SHEET IRON WARE, SAD IRONS, PROVI- 
DENCE CLOTHES WRINGERS, 

AGRICULTURAL. IMPLEMENTS, 
FANCY TOILET WARE, 

And various other articles pertaining to the trade. 



E. TUTHILL'S 

CARRIAGE 

MANUFACTORY, 

Port Jefferson, JLong Island 



At this establishment may always be found a large assort- 
ment of vehicles, both new and second-hand, consisting of 

Rockaways, Phaetons, Buggies, Skeletons, 

Sulkies, One and Two Seat ©pen Wagons, 

One and Two Horse Farm Wagons, &c. 

PAINTING, TRIMMING AND REPAIRING 

BONE WITH NEATNESS ANB BISPATCH. 

Old Carriages and Wagons taken in 
Exchange for "New. 

HARNESS (both Double and Single), 
ROBES, BLANKETS, WHIPS, 

COMBS, BRUSHES, &c, &c, &c. 

ALWAYS ON HAND, AND 

FOR SALE CHEAP. 



J. C, LEE & GO, Agents, Port Jefferson, L I 



The "SILVEB 



rUJfi 



>? 



ORGANS 



THE BEST 




OF THE 



WOELD. 



The Best for Churches and Lodges. The Best for Sunday 

Schools. The Best for Parlors and Vestries. The Best 

for Academies and Colleges. The Best for Public 

Halls. The Best for Orchestra and Stage. 

These instruments, which for sweetness of tone and elegance 
of appointment stand unrivalled, have met with unprecedented 
success in this country and abroad. 

MANUFACTURED BY 

. E. P. NEEDHAM & SON. 



IEST-A-SILjISIHCIEIID ITsT 1346. 



l^Sos. 143, 145, and 147 East 23d St., N. Y. 

Responsible parties applying for agencies in sections still nnsupplied. will re- 
ceive prompt attention and liberal induce!) id its. Parties residing at a distance 
from our authorized agents, may order from our factory. Send for illustrated 
price-list. 



SAG HABB0S EXPEESS, 



PUBLISHED AT 



S.A.G- HARBOR, 
guOblk County, Long Island, N. Y. 

—BY — 

JOHN H. HUNT, 

EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR, 

— AT — 

$2.00 Per Year, in Advance- 



Established July 14th, 1859. 
►-♦-« — 



Advertisements inserted on liberal terms, and all kinds of 
Book, Job, and Law printing done with neatness and dispatch, 
and at reasonable prices. Legal forms of nearly every descrip- 
tion on hand, or printed to order. 



THE 

REPUBLICAN WATCHMAN, 

JM Weekly Newspaper, 

PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY MORNING, AT 

Grreenport, E. I., 1ST. Y. ? for 
$1.50 PER ANNUSV3, BSM ADVANCE. 



HENET A_. REEVES, 

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, 



DEVOTED TO 

Local and General News, and the Advocacy of Demo- 
cratic Principles. 



lefe Pit atlai 

Pone Cheaply, Neatly, Expeditiously, and with strict Fidelity. 



THE 

LONG ISLAND HEBALD. 

(Established 1.791.) 

PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY, BY THE 

ISLIP PRINTING & PUBLISHING CO., 

— AT — 

IsNp, Suffolk County, N. Y. 



W. L. COOK, HERVBY ROSS, 

EDITOR. ASSOCIA TE EDITOR. 



Subscription Price, $200 per Annum. 



The Herald circulates in every town and hamlet in Suffolk 
County, and with its large and increasing patronage, offers a 
first-class field for advertisers of articles of merit. 

Advertising Rates Reasonable. 

The Herald is conducted in the interest of Long Islanders 
and Long Island institutions, and will be found a complete 
record of Long Island news. 

1.064 Columns of Heading- Jfffatter for $2 

EVERY NUMBER COMPLETE IN ITSELF. 

s -A» :vi :e i_i is ooipies ffibe. 

Address, 

The HERALD, 

ISLIP, SUFFOLK COUNTY, L. I. 



All the News for $2.00 per Year. 

the m¥$$m mimm, 

PUBLISHED AT 

HUNTINGTON, SUFFOLK CO., N. Y. 

EVERY FRIDAY MORNING BY 



JTJESSE E,. SMITH, Editor # Publisher. 



ELKAfiAH SOPEil, Proprietor. 



OFFICE, 

Opposite Suffolk Hotel, IVlain St. 



Terms of Subscription J Invariably in Advance. 

To single subscribers, one year, in advance, $ 2.00 

Clubs of Five, with cash, ... 9.00 

Ten, " .... 15.00 

" Twenty " ... 25.00 



The Bulletin is devote J to Long Islanders, and contains i 
weekly summary of Island news. Its agricultural columns 
will be found of interest to farmers, while its household 
recipes renders it indispensable to every family. 

.Sample copies sent free to any address. 



The Long Island Traveler, 

PUBLISHED WEEKLY, AT 

SOUTHOLD, L. Ic 9 
For ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, 



L. F. TERRY, Editor and Proprieto: 



Every Family can afford it. Contains all the News; especially 

Long Island. A Splendid Story every week, and a great 

variety of miscellaneous reading, rich, rare, and spicy. 

Thoroughly alive, and wp with the age. Sent on 

trial three months for twenty-five cents. 

JB^ 13 Correspondents wanted in every village. °^BQ 

A choice advertising medium. 



^TDTTZEIFUriSIIrXrG- ZFt^TES. 

Space in Col. 1 w. 2 w. 3 w. 4 w. 3 m. 6 m. 1 y. 

1 inch 75 $ 1.25 $ 1.50 $ 1.75 $ 2.75 $ 4.00 $ 5.00 

2 " $1.25 2.00 2.50 3.00 4.00 5.50 7.50 

3 " 1.75 2.50 3.25 3.75 5.00 7.00 10.00 

4 " 2.00 3.00 3.50 4.25 6.00 8.50 12.50 
? 4 ' cohirun. 2.25 3.50 4.00 4.50 6.50 9.50 15.00 
% " 4.25 G.50 7.50 8.00 11.00 17.00 28.00 

1 " 8.00 12.00 14.00 15.00 20.00 30.00 50.00 



Of all kinds executed with neatness and dispatch at the 
Traveler office. 

Pamjmlets, Hand-Bills, Bill-Heads, Business Cards, 
Wedding Cards, Visiting Cards, Circulars, 
Programmes, Labels, &c, 

Are gotten up at short notice, and at prices that defy compe- 
tition. Orders promptly filled. 
If you want any printing done send for an estimate. 

L. F. TERRY, Proprietor, 

So-u-tliolci, Ij. I. 



THE 



mm- &^^Ba^^^«^ 

CREENPORT, Suffolk Co., L.I. $ 
W!M. R. DUVALL, 

EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



TERMS ; $1.50, IN ADVANCE, 



REPUBLICAN IN POLITICS. 

NEUTRAL IN RELIGION. 

INDEPENDENT IN ALL THINGS. 

Devoted to local intelligence and the advancement of Long 

Island. It aims to keep up fully with the day 

and be alive on all live subjects. 

Already it has done much towards the development of the 
east end of the Island, and the full and graphic descriptions 
of Shelter Island that have been published in its columns have 
attracted enterprises which promise to make that place one of 
the most popular summer resorts. 

The "TIMES" 

Desires all parties who are solicitous to develop its advantages 

and resources to contribute to its columns, as it has 

an extensive circulation among capitalists 

interested in Suffolk Co. lands. 



"SOUTH SIDE SIGNAL," 

THE PEOPLE'S PAPER. 

BABYLON, L. I. 



9 
► 0-4 



HENRY LIVINGSTON, 



Editor and Proprietor. 
^ 

Independent in Politics, Impartial in Religion, " Square " in 
Business. 



Having introduced the first Power Printing Machine 
ever run in Suffolk County, it has always maintained a 
prominent position as a live Local and Family Journal. 
While devoted mainly to local affairs (every point of import- 
ance on the Island being represented in its columns), other 
matters of general interest receive a full share of attention. 
Its tales, sketches, and general literary articles are prepared 
and selected with great care, each department receiving as 
much thoughtful attention as the best conducted city journal. 
In a word, it is THE paper for all classes, intended for people 
now living, and is not, in any sense, a political machine. 

> • » - 4 

TERMS — Payable in. Advance s 

ONE COPY, one year $ 2 00 

" " six months 1 00 

TEN COPIES, one year, ordered at one time, sent to one P. O. 15 00 
TWENTY COPIES, one year, do do do 30 00 

And one copy extra to the person giving the order. 
To Teachers and Clergymen, per annum 1 50 

>~e-4 

Having a larger circulation than any other weekly paper on 
Long Island, the Signal presents superior advantages as aa 
advertising medium. 



THE 



j^ C^) Published at ^N&b 

^ S^LC^ HARBOR, ■> * 



B. D. SLEIGHT, 

Editor and Proprietor. 



Now in its fifty-second volume, is the oldest newspaper on 
Long Island. It was established in 1822, by Mr. H. W. Hunt, 
who continued as its publisher until he died, in 1855, at which 
time he was the oldest editor in the State. His son, A. A. 
Hunt, continued the paper in the interest of his father's estate 
until May, 1859, when it was sold to B. D. Sleight and A. A. 
Hunt who were joint proprietors until 1869, when the sole 
ownership was transferred to Mr. Sleight. 

The Corrector was, under Col. Hunt, the Whig organ of the 
county. After the disbandment of that organization it favored 
the principles and candidates of the American party, but when 
it commenced its new volume under the management of 
Sleight and Hunt it took an independent position politically. 
Its tenor was, however, Democratic, and it soon became the 
open advocate of the policy, principles and candidates of the 
Democracy, which position it has steadfastly held for the past 
ten years. 

In the summer of 1860 a daily issue was brought out for 
campaign purposes. It continued until the close of the elec- 
tion, but prospective patronage did not warrant its continu- 
ance. This was the first, and as yet, the only daily paper 
published in Suffolk County. The Corrector for some years 
was published semi-weekly, but latterly its publication day is 
only on Saturdays. 

It is devoted to literature, politics, and local news, and 
carries under its head the quaint motto: "Governed by prin- 
ciple., unwarped by party, oft we may err, yet aim to be just. " 



J. C. LEE & CO, Agents, Port Jefferson, L. I, 

The "SILVER TONGUE" 

ORGANS 



THE BEST 




OF THE 



WORLD. 



The Best for Churches and Lodges. The Best for Sunday 

Schools. The Best for Parlors and Vestries. The Best 

for Academies and Colleges. The Best for Public 

Halls. The Best for Orchestra and Stage. 

These instruments, which for sweetness of tone and elegance 
of appointment stand unrivalled, have met with unprecedented 
success in this country and abroad. 

MANUFACTURED BY 

E. P. NEEDHAM & SON. 



ESTABLISHED IUST 1846. 



Nos. 143, 145, and 147 East 23d St., N. Y. 

Responsible parties applying for agencies in sections still unsupplied. will re- 
ceive prompt attention and liberal inducements. Parties residing at a distance 
from our authorized agents, may order from our factory. Send for illustrated 
price-list. 



MA_IDSTOISrE 



team flouring J||ills, 



FRENCH, COOPER & CO. 



SAG HAKBOB, N. Y. 



These Mills having been enlarged and greatly improved 
during the past season, by adding new Bolts, Stones and 
Cleaning Machinery, can now offer to the trade additional 
inducements for its patronage. 

Our well-known brand of "Maidstone" Flour, made 
from none but the best Long Island Amber Wheat, is better 
known than ever before, and is, we believe, cheaper than any 
other Flour of similar grade in the market. 

We continue to make "Mount Vernon," from the best 
selected White Wheat; second to none as pastry flour. As 
both these brands are of uniform quality they are very 
desirable for retailing. 

Particular attention will, as usual, be paid to Gristing. 

We pay the highest price for all kinds of Grain, and have 
constantly on hand Feed, Corn Meal, fine and coarse, Buck 
Wheat Flour, Graham, Samp, &c. Send for price list. 



H. &z S. FRENCH, 

SAG HARBOR* JT. I"., 

WHOLESALE DEALERS IN 

Groceries, Wood, Coal, Agricultural 
Implements and Fertilizers. 



E. F. EIOHAEDSON, 

^ IT fl^ W HE A i 




Fruit, Street, and Ornam?ntal Trees, Flowerin? Shrubs, 

Roses* Grape Vines, Hedge Plants, &c M 

FOR SALE AT HIS GROUNDS, NORTH OF THE RAILROAD, AT- 

JSrentwood Station, Ktong Island, JV. 1*. 



Personal attention solicited. Orders Prompt:)/ answered. 

E. A.. EAYNOR, 
Port Jefferson, Long Island, 

DEALER IN 

H00SEH0LD FURNITURE, 

A LARGE ASSORTMENT OF 

CHAIRS, BEDSTEADS, LOUNGES, MATTRESSES, EX- 
TENSION TABLES, BUREAUS, CHAMBER SETS, 
PARLOR SUITES, PICTURE FRAMES, &c, &c. 

m THE UNDERTAKER'S DEPARTMENT, 

A LARGE SUPPLY OF 
COFFINS, CASKETS, «fce. 

Km- ONE OF THE FINEST HEAR »ES ON THE ISLAND. =^a 
Please call and examine stock and compare prices before 
purchasing elsewhere. 

BABYLON NURSERY, 

3-4 mile tforth of Depot. P. H. PQSTES, Proprietor. 

Fruit, Ornamental and Evergreen trees, Shrubs, Roses, and 
Greenhouse Plants. Very large Horse-Chestnut, White Ash, 
Elm, Weeping Willow, Sugar, Silver-leaved, Negundo, and 
other Maples, and Catalpa, Apple, Pear, Pe;ich, of extra, size. 
Dwarf Apples; very low by the 100. Hedge Plants, Grape 
Vines, Small fruits, everything in the line at lowest rates. A 
return ticket free to all purchasers, either way, on S. S. R. R. 

NEW FRUITS— APPLES— Early Congress, Lincoln, Lord Suffield, Grimes' 
Golden. PEARS — Mt. Vernon, Duch. de Bordeaux, Doyenne Thiers, D. du Co- 
mice, B. Assomptiou, Chambers, Duchess of March. PEACHES — Clarissa, Fos- 
ter, Blood- eaved, Ear 'y Beatrice, E. Silver, E. Louise, E. Rivers. Richmond. E. 
Albert. 30,000 NORWAY SPRUCE— 3 years old, transplanted. MACROPHYLUM 
or OREGON MAPLE. CALYCANTHUS— 1 year. A large stock of DWARF AP- 
PLES and PEARS, 2 yearu, at low prices. Babylon, New York, Sept. 2, 1873. 



J. C. LEE & CO, Agents, Port Jefferson, L I, 

The "SILVER TONGUE" 

ORGANS 



THE BEST 




OF THE 



WOULD. 



The Best for Churches and Lodges. The Best for Sunday- 
Schools. • The Best for Parlors and Vestries. The Best 
for Academies and Colleges. The Best for Public 
Halls. The Best for Orchestra and Stage. 

These instruments, which for sweetness of tone and elegance 
of appointment stand unrivalled, have met with unprecedented 
success in this country and abroad. 

MANUFACTURED BY 

E. P. NEEDHAM & SON. 



ESTABLISHED IN 1346. 



Nos. 143, 145, and 147 East 23d St., W. Y. 

Responsible parties applying for agencies in sections still unsupplied. will re- 
ceive prompt attention and liberal inducements. Parties residing at a distance 
from our authorized ajeuts, may order from our factory. Send for illustrated 
price-list. 



GO OE SiElsTIO 



TO 



59 MAIDEN LANE, 

NEW YORK, 



FOK 



PICTURES, 

ALL KINDS, 
FRAMED OR UNFRAMED. 



^SizaAMe^ <=^/fe>C'fc tn <~=JVeit£ 



International Chromo Co. 



TWO STERLING MAGAZINES 

PHRENOLOGICAL JOTJBML. 

Specially devoted to Ethnology, or the Natui al H story of Man; Physiolo- 
gy and Anatomy, or the Special Organization anrl Fun tion of the Human Body; 
Phrenology, or the Bx-ain and its Functions; ? hyaiognomy, or the Signs of 
Character exhibited in the Human Face and Fnm;' i'sycology, or the Science 
of the Soul; Sociology, or Man in his Private tni Public Relations; History 
and Biography, or Man in the Past and in t" e Pres art; Science and Art, or 
the Achievements of Man in the domains of the Practical and the Imaginative; 
JEdncatiim, or the Methods of Human Develop ment and Progression ; and it is 
here that Phrenology finds its best and most in portant field of work. By a 
positive analysis of individual character it ministers to individual usefulness, 
designating special aptitude, and indicating the methods by which mental de- 
ficiencies may be remedied. It teaches what each can do best, and " puts the 
right man in the right place." 

Terms.-$3.00 a year in advance. Single Numbers, 30 cents. Ten copies, 
$20, and an extra copy to agent. New volumes begin in July and January. 



THE SCIENCE 0E HEALTH, 

A New First-Class Health Monthly. 

This magazine begins its fourth volume with the January 
number. So far, it has been generously supported, and the 
publishers are encouraged to make it still more worthy, by a 
liberal expenditure for the best reading matter, and for illus- 
trations, although from the first it has been ahead of all others 
in these respects. Its leading object shall be to teach the 
Science of Life; which includes all that relates to the Art of 
Preserving and Recovering Health, and promoting a higher 
physical and mental condition of a true manhood. It will be 
the exponent of every means by which health may be -pre- 
served; strength of body and mind increased; life prolonged; 
and disease removed. At present, ill health seems to be the 
rule; health, the exception. All that is required to correct 
this is a knowledge of the uses or mis-uses of tlie Hygienic 
Agencies and Mental Influences to which we are virtually re- 
lated. 

Terms. — $2.00 a year in advance; Single numbers, 20 cents; ten copies, 
$15.00, and an extra copy to agent. Volumes begin in July and in January. 

Premiums. — Besides the above Club Kates, we are offering the most 
liberal Premiums, a List of which will be sent on application. Local Agents 
wanted everywhere, and cash commissions given. Send P. O. Orders. Address 
all letters to 

S. E. WELLS, Publisher, 389 Broadway, New York. 



SELLING BOOKS BY SUBSCRIPTION. 



O. A.. NICHOLS & CO. 

-OF — 

SPHIJVGFIEjLI?, MASS., 

ARE ENGAGED IN THE PUBLICATION OF 

Rare and Valuable Standard Works; 

SELLING THEM BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. 

By this method they will reach directly the whole reading 
public, multiply their sales ten fold, and place the works in 
the hands of thousands whose attention otherwise would not 
be called to them. And we would call the attention of Book 
Agents, School Teachers, Retired Clergymen, and all persons 
desiring both pleasant and profitable employment, to send for 
circulars of our Publications, to which we are constantly 
making additions. 

You will find in our Catalogue the names of the leading 
authors, such as Hartwig, Holland, Gough, Bowles, Dana, 
Abbott, and Headley, and our aim will be, as heretofore, to 
publish only books of standard merit, and by the best authors, 
and to furnish them to the public at low prices, and give our 
Agents a fair compensation. The sale of our books thus far 
has proved that they have been among the most popular books 
ever published, and we believe it is for the interest of all seek- 
ing employment, and especially experienced Agents, to examine 
our Catalogue before making engagements. Our terms will 
be as liberal as those of any other responsible Publishers. 

For particulars address as above, and oblige, 
Truly Yours, 

C. A. NICHOLS & CO. 



NEW PICTORIAL REFERENCE 

>nni px 

Publislied by A. J. Holman & Co., Philadelphia, 

CONTAINING THE 

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, 

APOCRYPHA, CONCORDANCE AND PSALMS. 

WITH NEARLY ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND MARGINAL REFERENCES 
AND READINGS, TOGETHER WITH THE FOLLOWING VALU- 
ABLE AND ALMOST INDISPENSABLE FEATURES. 

Illustrated Pronouncing Bible Dictionary, with 400 Elegant 
Engravings, (acknowledged the finest bound in any Bible.) 
Comprehensive Helps to the Study of the Bible. A Complete 
History of the Books of the Bible, 24 Beautiful Illustrations. 
Cities of the Bible, with Magnificent Views and Descriptive 
Scenes and Events in Palestine and other Bible Lands. Over 
200 Engravings. Religious Denominations of the World, a 
Complete and Authentic History of their Creeds and Forma- 
tion. 

# Edited by the following Eminent Biblical Writers and Authors : 

Rev. Alfred Nevin, D.D., Prof. A. L. Rawson, Thomas H. 

Horne, D.D., Rev. John Eadie, D.D., LL.D., Rev. 

"W. F. B. Jackson, and Rev. W. H. Munroe. 

All written to increase the interest in and simplify the study 
of the Word of God. The whole embellished with nearly 
SEVEN HUNDRED ENGRA VINGS, from original designs 
by Dore, Lintons, an other eminent artists. We claim supe- 
riority ever all other Bibles for Quality and Character of our 
Wood and Steel Engravings, and for the quality of Paper 
ttsed in our Bibles. 

prices, in different styles of binding: 

88, 8IO, $M, 813, 815, 818, 820. 

FOR SALE BY 

jr. Jfl. CGIjZiVJEK, Gen. JMgent for &. I. 

690 LEONARD STREET, 

GREENPOINT, L. I. 

1 60 78 



Tlie ]STew York Tribune. 

FOUNDED BY HORACE GREELEY. 

THE LEADING AMEBICAN NEWSPAPEE. 

DAILY, $10PekYear- SEMI-WEEKLY, $3PekYeak; WEEKLY, $Q Peb Yeab. 




THE NEW THII5TJIVE 33XJI1L.I>I^V^. 

The largest newspaper office in the world. To be completed, front in 1874, 
main building in 1875. Cost, exclusive of site, one million dollars. 

The Tribune Extras. — Extra sheets issued occasionally, and containing 
the latest and best things from the literature, art, science, history and religious 
discussion of the world. Circulars giving full details of the contents of each 
extra sent free on application. Address, THE TRIBUNE, Neiv York. ' 



APPLETONS' 




fW 



NEW REVISED EDITION. 



ENTIEELY RE-WRITTEN BY THE ABLEST WRITERS 
ON EVERY SUBJECT. PRINTED FROM NEW 
TYPE, AND ILLUSTRATED WITH SEV- 
ERAL THOUSAND ENGRA- 
VINGS AND MAPS. 



► » « 



The work originally published under the title of The New 
American Cyclopedia was completed in 1863, since which 
time the wide circulation which it has attained in all parts of 
the United States, and the signal devlopments which have 



appleton's cyclopedia. 

taken place in every branch of science, literature, and art, 
have induced the editors and publishers to submit it to an 
exact and thorough revision, and to issue a new edition en- 
titled The American Cyclopedia. 

Within the last ten years the progress of discovery in every 
department of knowledge has made a new work of reference 
an imperative want. 

The movement of political affairs has kept pace with the 
discoveries of science, and their fruitful application to the 
industrial and useful arts and the convenience and refinement 
of social life. Great wars and consequent revolutions have 
occurred, involving national changes of peculiar moment. 
The civil war of our own country, which was at its height 
when the last volume of the old work appeared, has happily 
been ended, and a new course of commercial and industrial 
activity has been commenced. 

Large accessions to our geographical knowledge have been 
made by the indefatigable explorers of Africa. 

The great political revolutions of the last decade, with the 
natural result of the lapse of time, have brought into public 
view a multitude of new men, whose names are in every one's 
moulh, and of whose lives every one is curious to know the 
particulars. Great battles have been fought and important sieg- 
es maintained, of which the details are as yet preserved only in 
the newspapers or in the transient publications of the day, 
but which ought now to take their place in permanent and 
authentic history. 



APPLETON S CYCLOPEDIA. 

In preparing the present edition for the press, it has ac- 
cordingly been the aim of the editors to bring down the in- 
formation to the latest possible dates, and to furnish an 
accurate account of the most recent discoveries in science, 
of every fresh production in literature, and of the newest 
inventions in the practical arts, as well as to give a succinct 
and original record of the 1 rogress of political and historical 
events. 

The work has been begun after long and careful preliminary 
labor, and with the most ample resources for carrying it on 
to a successful termination. 

None of the original stereotype plates have been used, but 
every page has been printed on new type, forming in fact a 
now Cyclopaedia, with the same plan and compass as its pre- 
decessor, but with a far greater pecuniary expenditure, and 
with such improvements in its composition as have been sug- 
gested by longer experience and enlarged knowledge. 

The illustrations which are introduced for the first time in 
the present edition have been added not for the sake of pic- . 
torial effect, but to give greater lucidity and force to the ex- 
planations in the text. They embrace all branches of science 
and of natural history, and depict the most famous and re- 
markable features of scenery, architecture, and art, as well as 
the various processes of mechanics and manufactures. 
Although intended for instruction rather than embellishment, 
no pains have been spared to insure their artistic excellence ; 
the cost of their execution is enormous, and it is believed 
they will find a welcome reception as an admirable feature of 
the Cyclopaedia, and worthy of its high character. 



APPLETON S CYCLOPAEDIA. 

This work is sold to Subscribers only, payable on delivery 
of each volume. It will be completed in sixteen large octavo 
volumes, each containing about 800 pages, fully illustrated 
with several thousand Wood Engravings, and with numerous 
colored Lithographic Maps. 



PRICE AND STYLE OF BSNDiE^G. 

In extra Cloth, per vol. , $5. 00 

In Library Leather, per vol., 6.00 

In Half Turkey Morocco, per vol., 7.00 

In Half Russia, extra gilt, per vol., 8.00 

hi Full Morocco, antique, gilt edges, per vol., 10.00 

Li Full Russia, per vol., 10.00 

Three volumes now ready. Succeeding volumes, until 
completion, will be issued once in two months. 

***Specimen pages of the Ameeican Cyclopedia, showing 
type, illustrations, etc. , will be sent gratis, on application. 

Fikst-Class Canvassing agents Wanted. 
Address the publishers, 

D. APPLETON & CO., 

549 & 551 Broadway, N. Y. 















v^ o ° " ° * "^ 









4.°^. 



